


Well you're a Leo and I'm a Crime Boss

by Hushman



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crime Boss Pidge, Crime Boss Pidge AU, F/M, Jack of all trades Lance, M/M, Organized Crime, Other, musician lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2020-11-25 22:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20919911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hushman/pseuds/Hushman
Summary: Katherine Accolti Holt is the head of the Holt Syndicate, one of the biggest criminal organisations in the city if not the entire state. Known as Katie to her parents and Pidge when she is not working, she has earned an impressive reputation in the criminal underworld despite her relatively young age. She is feared by her rivals as well as having the love and respect of her subordinates. She even has a few close associates that she is willing to consider friends. There is no romance on the horizon but that suits her just fine.That all changes when she meets Lance, an aspiring musician/barista/waiter/barman/lifeguard/back waxer/dog walker/janitor for a petting zoo/busker/salsa instructor at a local community center/probably 20 other things in order pay rent and stay fed. He has no criminal record besides a parking ticket and no idea who Pidge actually is. Despite this, they really hit it off. The question will be whether they can make it work.





	1. Coffee and introductions

It was a slow day in the cafe. The morning rush had been lackluster at best and with that done the cafe was completely empty except for Lance and his co-worker Faye. Lance was behind the counter while Faye was wiping down the tables.

The monotony was finally broken when a young brunette walked in. She had brown eyes, hair slightly longer than what could be considered a pixie cut and was wearing what Lance would describe as business casual. She placed some money on the counter.

“Triple shot Latte please.”

“Sure thing.” After taking the money and giving change, Lance took out a pen and a cup. “Name?”

The customer raised an eyebrow. “Why do you need that?”

“So I’ll know what to call out when your order’s ready.”

“But I’m the only one here.”

“True but we take professionalism very seriously here.” Lance answered. “Isn’t that right Faye?”

“Suck a dick McClain!”

“Love you too,” Lance replied before turning back to the client. “So about that name?”

“Alright Mr Professionalism, the name’s Pidge.”

“Please, Mr Professionalism is my father, call me Lance,” Lance replied as he wrote Pidge’s name onto a cup. “And Pidge is an interesting name, is it short for anything?”

“Pidgerath the Unrelenting, Devourer of Souls and Raverger of Lands,” Pidge answered.

Lance stared at Pidge for a moment. 

“I know you’re messing with me but that name’s pretty awesome.”

Lance got to work on making Pidge’s order. 

“Latte for Paige! I’ve got a Latte for Paige!” Lance called out while giving Pidge a wink. 

Pidge gave a good natured eye roll as she reached for the cup.

“You are really leaning in hard on the whole barista stereotype.” 

Lance gave a shrug. “You’d be disappointed otherwise.”

Pidge took a sip and when she was satisfied with the taste as she took out a bank note from her wallet and placed it in the tip jar.

“Enjoy the rest of your day.”

She turned and headed for the door.

“Wait!”

Pidge paused and looked back to see Lance walk up to her.

“I think you put a $50 in by mistake,” he said while holding out the $50 note she had placed in the tip jar.

Pidge blinked a couple of times before regaining her composure.

“Yes…how silly of me,” She said as she took back the $50 and dug out a $5 from her wallet which she gave to Lance. "Thank you."

“Happens to all of us. Have a good one.”

“Thanks, you too.” Pidge walked out.

Lance returned to the counter to see Faye glaring at him.

“What is it now?”

“You know we share what goes into that tip jar.”

“Come on, would you honestly feel right about taking advantage of a customer’s absentmindedness?”

The sour look Faye gave him spoke volumes. 

"Give a big tip like that back again and I’ll use your spine to unclog the toilet.”

Lance let out an exasperated sigh.

“Glad to see that court mandated anger management course is working out for you.”

* * *

Pidge climbed into the black mercedes that was waiting for her. Behind the wheel was Shiro and on the passengers side was Matt. 

"I don’t see why you insisted on going in alone,” Matt muttered.

“Neither of You wanting anything so would have looked weird you walk in and not order anything. Besides the place was empty and you had a clear line of sight.”

“Of course we didn’t want any,” Matt replied. “Shiro doesn’t drink anything while driving and I’m on a caffeine cleanse.”

“How’s that working for you?”

“Pretty good, the cravings are starting to get less,” Matt answered. “I’m now only mildly tempted to slit your throat so I can have your latte.”

“That’s fair, the only way you’re getting this latte is when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.” Pidge took another sip and let out a sound that was bounder line orgasmic.

Matt faced back forwards and crossed his arms in a huff. “That’s just cruel Pidge.”

At that moment Pidges phone rang. She answered it and listen to what was said.

“Understood,” She hung up and turned to the two in front.

“It’s time to head home, Scott has agreed to meet up so we need to finish making preparations.”

Shiro start up the car. Pidge let out a quiet sigh as she downed the remained of her latte and then took out her tablet. As wonderful as this brief moment of normality had been, it was time to get back to work.

* * *

After a long day at the cafe, Lance finally made it home to his apartment. 

The chat he had had with Pidge, that cute brunette that had ordered a latte, had been a brief reprieve in a very dull day. He was ready to finally put his feet up.

He checked the time.

Well, at least for a little bit before he had to be at his other job.

Lance’s tummy reminded him that he probably should have something to eat before heading out again. Checking the fridge and the pantry, all he could find was some spaghetti, one can of tomatoes, a bit of cheese and an onion that had some mold on it.

Lance muttered, “Can’t go wrong with italian.”

As Lance started to boil some water and see what he could save from the onion, his thoughts turned to Pidge as he idly wondered what she was up to at this moment. 

* * *

Scott, head of the Devon Street Crew, and one of his Lieutenants, Ridley, were at the agreed upon location, with three of his men for back up.

They watched a black SUV pull up. 

“Yo boss, why are we getting in bed with this little bitch?” 

“Ridley!” Scott snapped. “Now is not the time.”

James exited the drivers side of the SUV and opened the rear door. After everyone exited, Pidge, now dressed in an expensive looking business suit and flanked by Leifsdottir and Rizavi, approached Scott and Ridley.

“Glad you decided to come,” Pidge said. “I take it that you have considered my proposal?”

“I wouldn’t be standing here if I wasn’t,” Scott replied.

“Excellent, though just to be clear,” Pidge said. “You’re not “getting into bed” with me. Your crew is joining my organisation. You’ll be working for me.”

Scott raised an eyebrow. “You were listening in on us?”

“I can read lips,” Pidge replied. “And your Lieutenant is not exactly being subtle.” 

“We mean no disrespect,” Scott said. “He simply is curious as to why we should join your organisation?”

“To keep it simple, your crew has potential. However the direction your operation is growing, if it gets much bigger, it's going to start encroaching on my operations. So either you stagnate, which is a pity, you become an asset, which would benefit us both, or you become a problem, which would be dealt with.” 

“You’ll find we’re not that easy to deal with,” Scott replied.

“How about we skip past the metaphorical dick waving and focus on the benefits.” Pidge turned to Rizavi and nodded.

Rizavi pulled out a set of keys and tossed it over to Scott.

“What’s this?”

“The keys to a storage unit on west end that houses a red dodge viper that formerly belonged to Todd Newbank, head of the Newbank Cobras.”

That got Scott’s attention. The Newbank Cobras were a major pain in his ass.

“You stole Todd’s car?”

“I acquired it,” Pidge corrected. “I can also assure you he is not in any position to try and claim it back.”

Despite himself, Scott let out an approving whistle.

“So are we going to discuss terms or has this been a waste of my time?”

Scott looked thoughtfully, both at the keys and at the young crime boss.

“We can certainly discuss terms,” he finally said. Pointedly ignoring the displeased look Ridley was giving him.

“Good. Now the first condition is that we be given full access to your operation.”

“What?” Ridley asked in dismay.

“Ridley,” Scott said in a warning tone.

“You’ll be joining my operation. I need to make sure everything is optimal and that there are no unseen problems that need addressing,” Pidge explained.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” Ridley said in a clearly condescending tone. “We know how to handle our business.”

There was serious pause as everyone waited to see Pidge’s reaction. She let out a dramatic sigh.

“I was willing to give this crew a bit of time to get adjusted to the way our organisation does things before doing a performance review but I guess this really can’t wait.”

Pidge held out a hand before getting handed a tablet. A few keystrokes later, Pidge had the file she was looking for. 

“Ridley Pines, two charges of armed robbery, three charges of assault. Lives at 36 Fairway Lance. Drives a Ford Nexus, License Plate CDP5423. You spend on average 3 nights a week at various strip clubs and you have $600,000 in gambling debts. Every two weeks or so you visit a dominatrix that specialises at sissyfication. You had a girlfriend on Briar Lane and a piece on the side on Queens Terrace.”

“That dominatrix shit is a lie,” Ridley said. “And what do you mean ‘had a girlfriend’?”

“I’ve just sent full transcripts of your communication to both ladies so I doubt either of them will want anything to do with you, and not to kink shame but I really wish I was lying about this,” Pidge replied before flipping round the tablet to reveal an image of Ridley in a bra and panties, wearing makeup and bent over as a lady in leather holding a big paddle stood behind him.

“You bitch!”

Ridley tried to take a swing at Pidge but Pidge got in first with a stun gun into Ridley’s gut. He fell to the ground and lay there twitching. Pocketing her stun gun, Pidge turned back to Scott. 

“Let me make myself clear, two things I will not tolerate is disrespect and stupidity. I am not going to tell you who you can or can’t have in your crew but if this piece of shit is anywhere near my operations we are done. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” Scott replied before telling two of his men to get Ridley out of here.

“Good, now we can get down to business.”

After concluding business and watching Scott and his crew drive off, Pidge spoke into the ear piece she had secretly been wearing. 

“Are we clear?”

“Yes boss,” Kinkade said on the other end of the line. “All clear.”

“Then come down so we can get out of here,” Pidge said before taking out her phone and texting Shiro to come pick her up.

Shortly after Kinkade arrived at SUV, his sniper rifle hanging from his shoulder.

“You all did good work tonight.” Pidge said.

“It’s not like we had to do much,” Rizavi said “Though I did enjoy you showing that little bitch who’s boss.”

Pidge’s nose wrinkled at that statement. “Rizavi, as a dog owner I find it incredibly offensive that you would associate pieces of crap like that with such noble creatures.”

“I think you should have put a bullet in him for trying to attack you,” Griffin said.

“That could have escalated things and made him a martyr. This way shows them I am not to be disrespected and removed a potential liability.”

“Plus you enjoyed tasing his panty clad ass,” Rizavi added.

Pidge shrugged. “I’m only human.”

“No offence boss but I’m pretty sure you’re proof the singularity happened without anyone noticing,” Kinkade commented. 

Pidge tilted her head quizzingly. 

“Why would I be offended by that?”

At that a black mercedes pulled up, Shiro driving and Matt in the passenger set.

“That’s my ride,” Pidge said. “Have a good night.”

“Night boss.” The other four said in unison.

Pidge climbed into the car.

“So how did it go?” Shiro asked.

“As to be expected,” Pidge replied as she took off her jacket. “Scott agreed to my terms, one of his lieutenants tried to get cute but that was dealt with. The team performed just like you trained them.”

“I don’t get why you told us to stay away,” Matt grumbled.

“If those four are going to be a permanent part of my security detail and support team they need to be able to perform without mom and dad there watching over them. Besides if this was too much for them to handle, then I don’t know why we’re even bothering to train them.”

“Wait. Which one of us is mom in that metaphor?” Matt asked.

“I’ll leave it to you two to decide,” Pidge replied before giving Shiro a wink through the rearview mirror.

Pidge looked down and say something at feet. When she picked it up she saw it was the cup her latte had come in. She scolded herself for littering but paused when she saw Pidge written on the side with a small love heart to dot the “i”. Pidge wasn’t sure why but something about that made her smile. 

“Let’s go get something to eat,” Shiro said. 

“Sounds good,” Pidge replied as she put down the cup and buckled up. “Let’s go to Yanko’s. I’m craving some cuban.”


	2. Buenas noches and welcome to Yanko’s

Pidge, Matt and Shiro were led to their table and informed that their waiter would be there shortly. 

“So what are you two gonna order?” Matt asked as he started to peruse the menu. It had been 6 months since the last time they had been to Yanko’s and he was curious to see if the menu had changed. 

“I’ll have the Vaca Frita,” Shiro answered.

Matt looked up from his menu.

“You order that every time you come here.”

“And I’ve had an enjoyable meal every time I've come here.”

Pidge took a sip from her water to stop herself laughing out loud. Shiro and Matt were always like this when it was just the three of them. Most other times all three of them respected the hierarchy of her organisation but right now she was simply Pidge having a meal with her brother and her honorary uncle. Much like her stop at the cafe this afternoon, it was a momentary illusion of normalcy but she had learned to cherish such moments. You never knew how often they would come round again.

“Buenas noches and welcome to Yanko’s. I’ll be your waiter this evening. Would you like to hear today’s specials?” 

Pidge nearly spat out her water in shock when she saw who the waiter was.

“Lance?!” 

It took a moment for Lance to recognise her.

“PIdge? Wow, small world.” 

“What are you doing here?” Pidge winced when she realised how dumb that question was.

To Lance’s credit, he bent in closer and put a hand to the side of his face as if telling Pidge a secret.

“You see, I knocked out your waiter and stole his clothes. He’s currently tied up in the basement.”

“That would explain why your name badge says ‘Enrique’,” Pidge replied with a smirk.

Lance looked down and saw his badge did in fact say ‘Enrique’. His smile turned sheepish.

“Yes, that’s entirely the reason for that.” He then noticed Matt and Shiro staring. “How rude of me. Pidge bought a latte at the cafe where I work. She said her name was short for Pidgerath the Unrelenting.”

“You forgot Devourer of Souls and Raverger of Lands.”

“I didn’t forget, I just figured that by this point we’d be on a first name basis.”

“You think making her a latte is enough to be on a first name basis with her?” Matt asked bluntly in a tone that killed the mood instantly.

“Come on, we were just having fun,” Lance replied.

“Yes, I would hate for your fun to be ruined by actually doing your job.”

“Matt,” Pidge said in a warning tone.

“Alright point taken.” Lance took out a notepad and pen. “What would you like tonight?”

“We’re not staying,” Matt declared as he stood up.

“What?” Pidge and Lance said in unison. Shiro just quirked an eyebrow.

“There are other places where we can get cuban food,” Matt said. “This obviously isn’t the right restaurant for us.”

Pidge stood up. 

“That’s not your call to make.”

“Is there a problem here?”

Everyone noticed the manager had appeared.

“We were just leaving, certain factors made us reconsider dining here,” Matt explained giving Lance a pointed look.

The manager seemed to catch on to Matt’s meaning.

“I apologise greatly for Lance’s behaviour, he’s new and apparently still has much to learn.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Lance rebutted.

“¡Cállate!” The manager said sharply to Lance before turning back to Matt. “We will get you a new waiter and the first round of drinks are on the house.”

Pidge and Matt replied at the same time.

“We’re not staying.”

“We don’t need a new waiter.”

Shiro stood up and a hand on Matt and Pidge’s shoulders, momentarily quieting them.

“No need for the free drinks. A new waiter would be fine.”

Matt and Pidge turned to Shiro, clearly intending to argue. Shiro stopped them with a short and sharp statement.

“You two are making a scene.”

That was enough to get Pidge and Matt to sit back down, both clearly unhappy with the outcome.

Matt finally settled down but Pidge continued glaring at him but before she could say anything the new waiter appeared to take their order. It was only after ordering and a meal filled with giving her brother dirty looks that she finally spoke up.

“Tell me Matt, have you seen Lance at all since you declared you wanted a new waiter?”

“Why would I keep track of that?”

“The answer is he hasn’t been on the floor at all, meaning he was either sent home and stuck out the back doing menial stuff.”

“So?”

“That means that thanks to you, Lance is most likely missing out on a whole shift’s worth of tips,” Pidge explained. “And in this country tips are how most wait staff earn a livable wage.”

Matt rolled his eyes. 

“Look I’m sorry if I cost him some tips but don’t you find it suspicious that he happened to be at two of the places you visited today? I was being cautious.”

“It’s called having two jobs Matt, some people need those to get by.”

“He was wearing a name tag that was clearly not his and he had even said he had knocked out the actual waiter and stolen their clothes.”

“It was a joke.”

“Why are you getting so worked up about this?” Matt asked. “You’re always the one being extra cautious about potential threats. Anyone you run into more than once by supposed coincidence you usually have them triple checked or vacated. Why is this time suddenly so bad of me?”

Pidge gapped, realising she did not have an answer. Instead she stood up and declared. “I’m going to the bathroom.

After a moment Matt turned to Shiro.

“You agree she’s being irrational right?”

“If she is then she’s not the only one,” Shiro replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We both know you wanting us to get away from Lance had nothing to do with security and everything to do with how friendly he was being with Pidge.”

Any reply Matt had died down under the hard look Shiro was giving him. He instead let out a groan and signalled the manager to come over.

“I hope everything was to your liking,” he said with a bow.

“Everything was delicious,” Matt replied. “I just wanted to talk to you about the first waiter you sent to our table.”

“I apologise again for his behaviour.”

“No no. He did nothing wrong. I was the one behaving badly.” Matt pulled out a $100 which he gave to the manager. “Could you please make sure he gets that along with my apologies in order to make up for any tips he miss out on?”

“Thank you sir, that is very kind of you.”

* * *

Lance tossed a couple of bags in the dumpster. Despite being kicked off of waiting tables, he really needed the hours so had managed to convince the manager to let him stay on a bit longer tonight to do some of the clean up and grunt work out the back. Not ideal but still better than nothing. After securing the lid of the dumpsters, he turned to head back inside only to see Pidge standing they.

“Hi,” she said shyly.

“Er...hi,” he replied. “Not to be rude but I’m pretty sure customers aren’t allowed back here.”

“I know. I just wanted to say sorry for what happened in there.”

Lance tilted his head slightly.

“Why are you saying sorry? You didn’t do anything.”

That was a good question. Matt was right, Pidge had at times certainly been as bad to wait staff as Matt had been, sometimes even worse, in the interest of staying safe. She tried to be civil when she could and always tipped generously but in her line of work, not being dead always trumped not being rude. Normally a barista that had made her afternoon coffee appearing as her waiter for dinner would have set off all kinds of alarm bells. Why was this time so different?

“I...had just really been enjoying our conversations and I didn’t want that to be the note it ended on,” Pidge finally answered.

“Look, if I had crossed some line…”

“No, it wasn’t you,” Pidge assured him. “Matt means well, he can just get a little over protective.”

“That’s fair, family is like that.” Lance noticed the questioning look Pidge was giving him. “Similar hair colour and facial features. I figured you two were either related or cloning technology has made some serious leaps and bounds.”

That made sense to her. “So we’re good?”

Lance gave Pidge a smile. “Yeah, we’re good.”

Pidge felt oddly relieved to hear that and she wasn’t entirely sure why. Rather than dwell on that she decided to address something else that was on her mind regarding tonight.

“So...Enrique?”

Lance shrugged. “It’s the only name tag they had available with a guys name. Boss says you need to work two months before they order a name tag with your name on it.”

“And when do you reach the two month mark?”

“About three months ago,” Lance answered nonchalantly. “So is Matt your brother?...cousin?...surprisingly youthful looking uncle that took you out to dinner with his not so youthful but still incredibly good looking partner?”

“Great grandfather brought to the future by a temporal instability that’s too acclimated to modern life for us to be able to send him back.”

“You know, that was going to be my next guess.”

The two smiled at each other. Part of Pidge marveled at how nice it felt just to talk to Lance. Still she probably should head back inside before Matt or Shiro barged into the ladies restroom looking for her.

“I should go.” Pidge pulled out her wallet. “Listen, I do feel bad about the money that Matt cost you in tips. I’d like to make it up to you.”

“If you want to make it up to me you could give me your number.”

Pidge froze. 

“What?”

“Crude, sorry was that too upfront?” Lance asked. “It sounded a lot smoother in my head.”

“No no, it was fine,” Pidge responded. “Actually no, it was as smooth as sandpaper.”

“Thanks Pidge.”

“I mean, why would you want me number? You barely know me.”

“True but you seem like someone I would like to get to know better.”

Pidge didn’t know why but that statement made her feel strangely warm for some reason. Said warm feelings drained away as she realised what it would mean for Lance to find out who she really was.

“No Lance, I’m not someone you would want to know better.”

She started to head back inside, having realised that it was best for everyone that she get out of Lance’s life as soon as possible.

“Wait!”

She stopped and turned back to see Lance scribble something on a piece of paper.

“Let’s try it a different way,” he said as he held out the piece of paper. “This is my number. There’s absolutely no pressure but if you feel like talking, you can call or text me. I’ll answer unless I’m sleeping, working or sleeping at work.”

Pidge stared at the paper. She knew the smart thing would be to refuse it and walk away but that seemed like a rude thing to do to someone who had been nothing but nice to her. Besides, just because she had his number doesn’t mean she had to call him. 

She gave Lance a faint smile as she took the piece of paper.

“You’re tenacious, I’ll give you that.”

“It’s one of my better qualities,” he replied with an easy going smile of his own. “Or at least I think it is. I’m not quite sure what tenacious means.” 

Pidge’s smile faded when she saw something. Confused Lance turned and saw three thugs entering the alley.

“Can I help you?” Lance asked.

“We’re here for the lady.” The lead thug said. “I suggest you stay out of this.”

Lance stepped in front of Pidge, much to Pidge’s confusion, and started to approach the thugs.

“This alley is private property so I suggest you and your friends leave now.”

The lead thug pulled out a gun and pointed it at Lance’s head.

“I won’t ask again.”

Pidge tried to reach for where her side arm was hidden but the other two thugs had their guns out and pointed at her before she could get to it. With them closer she could see tattoos indicating they were part of the Domínguez Cartel. 

The Domínguez Cartel had what could most charitably be described as a live and let live relationship Pidge’s organisation. In a normal setting she would be wondering what they were doing so far from their own turf and how they had found her but right now the more pressing concern was the three guns aimed at her and Lance.

“Look buddy, I don’t know what this is about but you really don’t want to do this,” Lance warned. “There’s a squad car just across the street. You pull that trigger and the cops will be on you before you leave the alley.”

“Listen Hijueputa,” The thug said. “If you’re not out of my way by the count of three, I’m blowing your brains out.”

“Ok, firstly, leave my mother out of this. Secondly, I’m not moving so how about we just talk this out.”

“One... two...three…”

Three shots rang out.

Three bodies fell to the ground.

Thankfully none of them was Lance or Pidge. 

Lance stood there in shock and dismay. He faintly made out someone in a biker’s jacket and helmet pocket a gun and run off but his mind was currently in overdrive trying to process what had just happened.

“Pidge, are you ok?” He turned and saw Pidge was heading back inside.

“Whoa, hold up,” Lance took hold of Pidge’s hand. “I know this is a lot to take in but I wasn’t kidding about the squad car. The police will be here any minute asking questions.”

“Lance please, there’s no time to explain but I can’t be here when the cops arrive,” Pidge pleaded.

Seeing the desperation in her eyes, Lance relented and let go of Pidge’s arms. 

“Go, I’ll deal with this.”

Pidge gave Lance a grateful smile before running back inside.

Lance would have loved to make a run for it too but right now he was literally the last man standing in the alley and was pretty sure he had some dead gangster blood on him. Running would make things even worse.

So when police ran in with their weapons drawn, Lance was there waiting for them, his hands in the air, trying his best to show he was unarmed.

Despite this, the officer in front still yelled, “POLICE! GET ON THE GROUND!”

Lance was incredibly thankful to be alive but as he did his best to follow the officer’s instructions, something told him the next few hours were not going to be fun  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is a seldom addressed but irrefutable truth that one can only go so far into a Plance fic before an attempt is made to either maim or kill Lance. This, along with Garlic knots, Peanut Butter cookies and a mutual love of video games, is what is known as a Universal Plance Constant.


	3. Not the worst shift Lance ever worked at Yanko's

Matt and Shiro had finished paying the bill when Pidge came. Both of them went alert when they saw her wearing the “nothing is wrong” smile she only wore when something was wrong but there were civilians present.

“Three goons from the Domínguez Cartel just tried to jump me. They’re dealt with but we need to leave now.”

Going into full business mode, the three left the restaurant, keeping a brisk but relaxed pace that got them back to their car as fast as possible but didn’t draw attention to themselves. Matt and Pidge kept their head on a swivel while Shiro checked the car. They were in and driving back to their home, Matt and Pidge started making calls.

If this was an act of war from The Domínguez Cartel, they needed to be ready but first they needed to see if the rest of their operations were secure and on alert. Pidge also called in people to do digging at Yanko’s. They were to be her eyes on what was going on and let her know of any potential issues. Between calls she noticed Shiro answering his phone but she refocused her attention to giving out orders.

When they arrived home, a group of her men, fully armed were waiting. Shiro got to work making sure the parameter had been secured. 

Pidge and Matt meanwhile went to the Command Center. The “Command Center” was a room with the best computers in the building (that was the official story, even though Pidge had a sweet set up in her private quarters that begged to differ) that acted as the main hub for running the entire organisation.

Yes she had an actual office but that was only used when she needed a place to impress or threaten guests that she didn’t want seeing too much of her operation. The Command Center was where the real action happened.

Matt had been the one to call it the Command Center but every time she brought that fact up he would come back with a rebuttal about how she never vetoed the name.

While Matt finished checking up on the last of the operations, Pidge got to work both to digitally cover her tracks and get what useful intel she could find. Living in the 21st century was both a blessing and curse when it came to surveillance. While it could give her answers, it could also help authorities place her in the alley of a triple homicide. 

She hacked every security camera in the area. There was nothing looking directly into the alley. A camera on the street was angled so that it caught anyone entering the alley from the street but nothing about what happened in the alley it self. She could see the three cartel members entering the alley. She could also see the gunman enter into view and then quickly exit view.

She widened her search, making copies of all the footage and ensuring that any footage of her, Matt or Shiro “accidentally” became too grainy to make a clear id.

Matt finished making calls as Shiro walked in.

“Perimeter is secure and the men are on alert,” Shiro stated. “How are the operations?”

“As far as we can tell, none of our operations are under attack,” Matt replied. “Either getting Pidge was the only mission or getting her was meant to be the first move and all other attacks were aborted when the first move failed.”

“Okay, since we’re not in immediate danger, could you tell us what happened?” Shiro asked Pidge.

Pidge gave them the abridged version of what happened.

“And are we sure this was the Domínguez Cartel?” 

“As sure as we can be,” Pidge replied. “The police databases haven’t yet logged the names of the three bodies found in to the system so we’ll need to wait for our sources to confirm their identities. In the meantime we need to figure out who the gunman was.”

“That was Keith,” Shiro answered.

Matt raised an eyebrow.

“Your pet project is the gunman?”

“Don’t call him that,” Shiro said in mild irritation. “But yes, I had tasked him with following us as part of his training. He was to track us and try to remain unseen. I got a call from him on the way back. He had been watching us from a distance but when he saw three men with guns try to take you he decided to act. Once he was sure you were safe he got out before the police showed up. I directed him to a safe location and made preparations to get the gun disposed of.”

“Shiro, we will have a conversation about you ordering someone to follow us without our knowledge,” Pidge said. “But let Kieth know he has my thanks.”

Keith was loyal to Shiro but not yet an official member of the organisation. Still, direct thanks from Pidge herself would do a lot for Keith’s standing if he did become a full member.

The phone rang, which Pidge put on speaker. It was one of her sources in the police.

“Hey boss, got word you were wanting info on the shootings outside Yanko’s.”

“What do you have.”

“The three Vics were Domínguez Cartel. They had their IDs with them. I’ll text you the names. Not sure what they were doing so far from their turf. Witnesses are limited, aside from people who heard the gunshots. No definite answer on the shooter but the first officers on the scene found a guy standing over the bodies. He’s been taken to the 46th precinct for questioning. Will let you know when I find out more.”

The call hung up.

“So we have a potential witness,” Shiro said, remaining neutral. “How do you want to handle it?”

“Subtly,” Pidge replied as she picked up her phone and dialed.

“Sorry to call you this late but we have a situation.”

* * *

True to Lance’s prediction, the hours after Lance had been picked up by the police had not been fun. If this had been one of those crime shows on tv Lance would probably be home right now. A team of supposedly nerdy but oddly attractive crime scene investigators or a quirky but lovable detective would have completely worked out how the events went down.

They would find Lance didn’t have any gunshot residue on him, meaning that he had not fired any gun. Ballistics would show that none of the guns found in the alley would have fired the bullets found in the bodies. Some high tech simulations would show from the blood splatter and the entry wounds that the shots were fired from outside of the alley instead of where Lance had been standing. And for the cherry on top, the computer guy would super enhance an image taken from atm across the street to show who the real killer was.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a tv show. Lance had no idea how much of that stuff was actually possible for police investigations. He was however pretty sure that any that stuff the police could actually do they hadn’t done. The officers that had arrested him had obviously used the brilliant deductive reasoning that 1 alive person + 3 dead people = the alive person is the killer. For obviousness reasons, he had no way of knowing if that was still the current theory but the fact he hadn’t been allowed to leave did say he was still a person of interest. He had been left alone to stew for a few hours and now had a couple of detectives asking questions he had no clue how to answer. 

The first thing Lance had done was ask to be appointed a lawyer. That was when he learned that people only get appointed defense lawyers if they have been charged with something. In Lance’s case, they hadn’t yet charged him with anything so he couldn’t yet be appointed a lawyer. If he had a private lawyer he’d be entitled to call them before answering anything but unsurprisingly Lance did not have one of those. 

So for heavens knows how long, Lance sat there silently while Detective Duncan and Detective Jacobs lobbed questions at him. They had started simple. What was Lance doing in the alley? Did Lance know the three victims? How did they die?

Though after a while, the questions started being less like questions and more like accusations in the forms of questions. 

“What is your connection to the Domínguez Cartel?” Detective Duncan demanded. “Were you making a deal with them but then things went antsy so you shot them?”

“Look Mr McClain, the longer you stay silent, the worse you make things for yourself,” Detective Jacobs said. “Now we spoke to the manager at Yanko’s. We know you’re a waiter there but had been taken off tables because of an issue with a customer. Tells us what happened and maybe we could make a deal.”

Lance wished he could ask the detectives to let him go since he had no idea what was going on or at least charge him with something so he could get his court-appointed attorney but that would have defeated the point of him staying silent. That said it was clear unless something changed he wasn’t going anywhere.

In that moment the door swung open. In walked a lady with dark skin and platinum blonde hair tied in a neat bun. She wore a tailor made suit and had a briefcase.

“Don’t say another word,” She said to Lance before focusing her attention on the two detectives. “Mr McClain will not be answering any more questions until I have conferred with him.”

“Who the hell are you?” Detective Duncan asked.

“Allura Altea,” The lady replied. “I am Mr McClain’s attorney.”

“You’re his attorney?” Detective Jacobs asked skeptically.

“Yes I am.” Allura said. “Now if you could please leave so I can confer with my client.”

Duncan turned to Lance. “Is this really your lawyer?”

Allura stepped in between Lance and Duncan. 

“I have already made it clear that I am Mr McClain’s attorney. I also made it clear he would not be answering any questions until I have conferred with him.”

“How did you even know he was here?” Duncan asked.

“Are you saying you were actively preventing my client from exercising his right to legal counsel.”

“No that is not what I said!” Duncan said. “Don’t you dare put words in my mouth.”

“I suggest you lower that tone detective. I would rather not bring misconduct suit against this precinct but between your behaviour and the attempted violation of my client’s rights it’s becoming more likely.” 

Duncan looked like he was ready to say a few not so nice words but Roberts stepped in to stop him.

“We’ll leave you to confer with your client,” Roberts said as he lead Duncan out of the interrogation room.

There was a moment of silence as they waited to be sure they were alone before Lance finally spoke.

“Okay, so who exactly are you?”

"Alright so who exactly are you?" Lance asked. "I know you said your my attorney but how did you even know I was here?"

Allura placed her briefcase on the table as she sat down.

"I'm a friend of Pidge.”

That got Lance’s attention.

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine. She told me what happened and asked me to help."

Lance was relieved, both that Pidge was alright and that she was getting some help.

"Now the first thing we need to discuss is what you have told the police."

"Nothing."

Allura paused

"Nothing?" She sounded genuinely surprised by that, either that slightly suspicious. 

"Well I gave them my name, address and driver's license but that's it." Lance noticed the look Allura was giving him. "I have the right to remain silent. Being innocent doesn't mean that I can't incriminate myself by saying something. And considering I was arrested in an alley with three dead bodies I really want to not incriminate myself."

Allura gave Lance a discerning stare, clearing trying to figure out if Lance was telling the truth. She finally gave a satisfied nod.

"I wish more of my clients thought like you." She admitted. "It would make my job a lot easier."

She opened her briefcase and took out a pad of paper as well as a pen.

"Alright, now I can get you out of here if you are willing to follow my instruction and do what I tell you. Are you okay with that?"

Lance nodded.

"Great, first I would like to hear your version of the event and then we’ll create your official statement."

[hr]

After filling Allura in on his side of the events they got to work on preparing his official statement. For the most part it was just a direct summary of what had happened. 

Lance had been in the alley throwing out trash. Three men entered the alley. They gave no legitimate reason for being there so Lance told them it was private property and told them to leave. The men pulled out guns and told Lance to get out of the way. Moments later the three men were gunned down by an assailant wearing a bike helmet. 

Lance had no idea who the first three men had been and he didn’t get a good look at the shooter.

Lance did notice the significant absence of Pidge from this official statement but didn’t say anything, both out of believing it’s best not to argue with his lawyer and because he didn’t want to direct the police towards Pidge after she had taken the time to get him said lawyer.

They then delivered the official statement to the two detectives.

"You know you could have told us all of this sooner and stopped wasting our time," Detective Duncan said.

"My client had had the traumatic experience of having three people gunned down in front of him but instead of being allowed to process the experience he was arrested and treated like a criminal." Allura replied. "I think given the circumstances it's quite understandable that he would exercise his legal right to remain silent until he had proper representation. Though I would agree that this has been a major waste of time. So is my client free to go?"

Neither Duncan or Jacobs looked particularly pleased but Jacobs finally spoke.

“Yeah, he is free to go,” He pulled out a card that he held out to Lance. "If you remember anything else, let us know."

Allura took the card out of Jacob's hands.

"If Mr McClain remembers anything more I will contact you," Allura said. "Any attempts to contact my client without me present will be treated as harassment."

Both detectives looked really displeased but said nothing further as Lance collected his things and walked out of the precinct. 

Once outside Lance turned to Allura.

“Thank you so much for your help.”

“It was no trouble at all,” She replied. “Thank you for making my job easier by not saying something to incriminate yourself.”

As they made it to the curb a car pulled up. 

“Can I give you a lift home?” Allura asked.

“No no, you already helped me a lot and I don’t want to put you out further,” Lance replied. “I can walk home.”

Allura raised an eyebrow before asking. “You want to walk home at night shirtless?”

Lance looked down, having only then remembered that due to the blood being found on his shirt it had been taken in as evidence. Despite not being charged with anything they still hadn’t given it back to him. There was probably an official reason but Lance is sure they were just being dicks. 

“Actually, could I change my answer?”

Allura gave an eye roll but opened the car door, signaling for Lance to get in. Once both were in the car, Lance gave the driver his address and they were off.

At first, the drive was in amicable silence until Allura chose to break it.

“Mr McClain, might I give you some final legal advice as your attorney in this matter?”

“Um...sure?”

“You have given your official statement to the authorities. As they have not charged you with anything it would be in your best interests that that is the only version of tonight's events that you tell anyone. Changing your story now could make you liable for a perjury charge. It could also have other unforeseen consequences.”

Lance wasn’t sure what it was but there was something odd about how she had said “unforeseen consequences”.

“You mean like getting Pidge in trouble?”

“I was merely speaking in general terms,” Allura replied. 

“Don’t worry, last thing I want is to get Pidge in trouble, especially since she got you to help get me out.”

“As I said, I was merely speaking in general terms,” Allura insisted. “Though I’m sure she’d appreciate you not wanting to get her in trouble.”

Things turned silent again as Lance took the moment to stare out the window. While Allura hadn’t been expecting engaging conversation, things did seem quieter than what she expected.

“Mr McClain, this is probably not my place to ask but are you doing alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“You did see three people shot right in front of you,” She explained. “I hadn’t been embellishing to the police when I called your experience traumatic.”

“Oh yeah, that,” Lance answered. He paused, seemingly trying to gauge his own emotions. “Is it weird that I’m feeling pretty ok all things considered.”

“There is no correct or normal way to handle trauma,” Allura said frankly as she pulled out two cards which she gave to Lance.

“The first card is for my firm, if the police try to contact or harass you regarding tonight, please let me know. The second is a counseling service, if you stop feeling ‘pretty ok’ about what happened or need someone to talk to, give them a ring. They offer over the phone counseling but can also find you a therapist within your price range if that would be more suitable.”

“Er...thanks”

Lance opened his wallet, placed in both cards and pulled out a card which he held out to Allura.

"Listen, I kinda feel bad about you doing all this for free but there really isn’t any way I can pay you. Would you like my Quintessence loyalty card? It's this really good smoothie bar on Buckland Ave. That card is one stamp away from getting a free smoothie.”

Allura raised an eyebrow as she took the card. When she saw that it was, in fact, a loyalty card a faint smile appeared.

“I most graciously accept this as payment for services rendered Mr McClain,” she said as she pocketed the loyalty card.

The car arrived at Lance’s apartment building. As he got out he said.

“Thanks again for your help. Could you also tell Pidge thanks for asking you?”

“I will Mr McClain. You have a good night.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Allura watched as Lance left the car and entered the apartment building. She then told the driver to take her home and took out her phone. There was one last call she needed to make before she was done for the evening.

* * *

Pidge’s phone rang. When she saw it was Allura she put it on speakerphone.

“Shiro and Matt are here too,” Pidge said. “How’d the trip to the precinct go?”

“Quite well,” Allura answered. “Mr McClain exercised his right to remain silent. He said nothing to police until I got there so we have full control of the narrative. His official statement does not include Pidge and the police had nothing to hold him so he has been released with no charges.”

Pidge let out a sigh of relief, both that she hadn’t been implicated in the murders but also that Lance wasn’t being charged with anything.

“And you’re sure he will keep quiet?” Matt asked, earning a brief dirty look from Pidge.

“I didn’t threaten him into silence but I did advise him that changing his story could leave him open to perjury charges and as well as other unforeseen consequences,” Allura replied. “Though honestly I think he too thankful to have avoided a criminal conviction to risk bringing this matter up with anyone else.”

“Thanks Allura, Good Night.” Pidge hung up.

“So that takes care of that loose end,” Shiro said.

Pidge wasn’t sure what about calling Lance a loose end irritated her but he swallowed those feelings. Instead, she said. “Let’s call it a night, we’ve made sure all our operations are secure and there’s no new intel to gather until the morning. Tomorrow is going to be a big day so it’s better that we’re rested.”

Shiro nodded in approval, he said good night and left. Matt was a bit more hesitant.

“Pidge...about what happened tonight…”

“Look Matt, once we figure out how those thugs found out where we would be and deal with it, we will have an in-depth discussion about what happened tonight. But now is not the time, okay?”

Instead, Matt pulled Pidge into a hug. The two were silent for a moment before Matt spoke again.

“I know to the rest of the world you’re this badass crime boss but to me you’re still my little sister. It will never sit right with me to see you put in harm's way.”

“I know Matt,” Pidge replied softly. “I love you.”

“Love you too sis,” Matt said as he released the hug. “Good night.”

Matt left the Command Center.

After doing a final check through, Pidge went to her private quarters, also ready to call it a night.

As she was about to change for bed, she put her hand in her pocket and felt it touch some paper. She pulled it out to find it was the piece of paper Lance had given her with his number.

Pidge looked at the piece of paper. Part of her knew that the best thing to do was to crumple it up and throw it away. That same part also knew the worse thing she could do is actually use the number to contact Lance.

So why had she taken out her phone?

Communication that could not be traced back to her was important to her business. That’s why early on in Pidge’s career she and Matt created what would be colloquially known as the burner app. It was a program she could install on any smartphone. Using the app she could call and message someone without giving away their number. To the receiver, it looked like a normal number and if they replied or rang back it came to her phone. It was like having a million burner phones in one phone.

So she opened the burner app, entered in Lance as a new contact and then assigned it a new burner number.    


With that done she sent Lance a message.

**Hi Lance, it’s Pidge. You OK?**

She then stared at the phone, seemingly trying to use her mind to will the phone into receiving a message. Fortunately, a message soon came.

**Hi Pidge. I’m good thanks. Just got home. You OK?**

Pidge wasn’t sure what drove her but instead of texting a reply she pressed the dial button. As she listened, it gave two rings before there was an answer.

“Hello?” said a voice on the other end.

“Hi Lance,” Pidge said, suddenly feeling sheepish about calling. “Hope I’m not bothering.”

“No no, it’s good to hear your voice,” Lance replied.

“It’s good to hear yours,” Pidge replied, her face feeling slightly warmer for some reason.

“So thank you for getting your lawyer friend to help. It certainly was a lifesaver.”

“No problem, sorry about what happened.”

“Pidge, you really need to stop apologising for things that aren’t your fault.”

Part of Pidge would argue that this was entirely her fault seeing as she was the one the cartel had been after. Still, this didn’t feel like the time.

“Thank you for what you did in the alley,” She said instead.

“You’re welcome, though it’s not like I did much.”

Pidge felt dismay wash over her. How the hell could he view almost taking a bullet in the head for her as “not doing much”? 

“It was a lot from where I was standing. I’m sorry I ran.”

“Don’t sweat it, you helped me avoid jail. That makes us even.”

Pidge was highly skeptical about that. “Even so, you probably want an explanation.”

She bit her lip as she waited for a response. She didn’t know what she was going to say when he demanded answers but a particular persistent little voice told her that Lance had earned the right to at least ask.

“Well I am curious about what all that was about,” Lance admitted. “Still, that’s only if you feel comfortable telling me.”

“What?” Pidge honestly wasn’t sure she had heard him right.

“If I demand answers that you’re not willing to give, then you’ll either run for the hills or tell some lies. Neither of those are going to help me know you better so the ball's in your court.”

“And you’re honestly okay with it being on my terms what I tell you?”

“If it means I eventually learn more about you, absolutely.”

“What happens if you don’t like what you eventually learn about me?” 

“Well, what happens if you don’t like what you eventually learn me?” Lance countered. “We’d both be taking a chance.”

Pidge held back a scoff. She was pretty sure that with her resources she could find out Lance’s whole life story within a day. If his digital footprint was big enough she could probably find it out within an hour. Still, she did sort of see his point.

“So I’m not going to ask for specifics but are you in trouble?” Lance asked. “I just want to be sure your safe.”

Pidge paused as she contemplated that question. She was the head of a major criminal organisation, she was born a member of a crime family that later was almost wiped out by a rival, the survival of her and her loved ones had hinged on her rebuilding the family into the operation it is now. She has competitors and enemies that would love her head on a platter, in at least a few cases that’s being literal. Also, despite her efforts to foster genuine loyalty from her people instead of simply fearing retribution, there were undoubtedly a few people within her own ranks that think they could do a better job than her. That was just the nature of the business.

“No more trouble than usual,” she responded. “I don’t know what those three were after but I’m taking precautions and staying safe.” 

“I’m glad.”

“And that is the only question you have?” 

“Well, if you want to tell me something about yourself that I don’t yet know, I’m all ears.”

“Like what?”

“First thing that comes to mind, I’m not picky at all.”

Pidge scoured her mind, trying desperately to think of something about herself that had nothing to do with her being a crime boss or was not overly personal. Finally, she blurted out the first thing that she could think of.

“I like peanut butter.”

As soon as the words left her mouth Pidge wanted to smash her head through a nearby wall because of how asinine it must have sounded to Lance.

“Crunchy or smooth?” Lance asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Do you like crunchy or smooth peanut butter?” Lance clarified.

“Oh, I like smooth,” Pidge said cautiously, not sure whether or not he was mocking her.

“That’s cool,” Lance replied. “I like smooth in a sandwich and crunchy when I’m eating straight from the jar.”

“You eat straight from the jar?”

“Hey I’m a man with needs,” Lance said with mock defensiveness. “Sometimes those needs involve a jar of crunchy peanut butter and a spoon.”

“You’re right,” Pidge conceded. “I have no right to judge you for those peanut butter related needs.”

“Darn straight, though if you’re ever on Huntington Street, there’s this little bakery that makes the best peanut butter cookies.”

“Thanks, I’ll have to try them when I get the chance.” 

There was a moment of comfortable silence until Lance spoke again.

“Listen, I should probably head to bed, I have an early start tomorrow. Talk soon?”

Pidge could hear the hope in his voice. The rational side of her mind said she should put an end to this now. Yet when she spoke her reply was, “Definitely. Good Night.”

Lance said a cheerful good night and hung up. Pidge meanwhile stared at the phone.

“What the hell are you doing?” She asked herself as she put the phone down.

This was insane. She was going against every rational thought and letting Lance get closer to her rather than cutting ties.

And even after everything tonight he was letting her set the terms of what she told him about herself. That meant he was either up to something or had absolutely no sense of self-preservation. 

Nope, this had to stop right now. This was the absolute last interaction she ever had with Lance. 

End of discussion. 

Which was why she was definitely not doing a google search for that bakery Lance had mentioned setting a reminder to place an order for some peanut butter cookies. 

She was also definitely not saving Lance’s number to her private contact list.

She was also definitely not finding a safe place to keep the piece of paper Lance had written on.

She was also definitely not hacking the security footage again in order to see if she could get a good shot of Lance.

[hr]

Lance stared down at his phone. Part of him wondered if he was giving Pidge too much benefit of the doubt. While tonight hadn’t been the worst shift he had ever worked at Yanko’s, there had been definite room for improvement. And contrary to what some people may think, he wasn’t completely without a sense of self-preservation. 

With that said his gut told him he could trust Pidge and he was an excellent judge of character. 

Most of the time.

A lot of the time.

Some of the time.

Alright so maybe his gut hadn’t had the best track record when it came to the ladies, but damn it he had a really good feeling about Pidge.

Something about her felt different. He was being sincere when he said he wanted to get to know her better. That wouldn’t happen if he didn’t allow her some degree of trust.

Besides, he had already almost been shot in the head and arrested. It’s not like anything worse could happen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. So sorry about the delay. Life got a bit more full-on in October than I was expecting and when I got back into writing, this chapter was far bigger than I was expecting. When writting I tend to focus on where it feels like the best place to finish the chapter. In this case, the best place was a lot further along than usual. Still, thank you for your patience. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise the next chapter will be up a lot sooner


	4. Advice

Pidge was at her desk going over the finances of new operations to make sure everything was as it should be. Bae Bae, her dog was dozing at her feet and occasionally sticking their head up to get ear scratches.

Her phone dinged. She looked down and smiled when she saw it was a message from Lance. It had been a week and since then they had been messaging regularly and occasionally calling. It was low key and casual as well as mostly pointless prattle but as much she didn’t want to admit it, his presence was a really pleasant addition to her day.

**Lance: Hey Pidge, having a fun day?**

**Pidge: Not really, just taking care of some admin stuff before a work meeting XP**

**Pidge: You?**

**Lance: Just spending my morning with a very special lady**

Before Pidge could figure out how she felt about that statement, Lance sent through an image. It was a selfie of him with his face right next to a cow. Pidge let out a snort.

**Pidge: Spending some time with a special someone one too.**

She sent a picture of Bae Bae, whose head was currently resting on her lap.

There was a knock on the door. She looked up to see Shiro standing there.  


"It's time to go."

* * *

“So what do you think Kaltenecker?” Lance asked the cow as he showed her the messages Pidge had sent. “I know it's early so I don’t want to be over eager but she really seems like someone special.”

Lance was busy at his job at the petting zoo. Officially he had been hired as a janitor but when his bosses found out he had experience with farm animals they agreed to pay him a few extra bucks if he helped take care of the animals too. It’s not as much as what he would make if his job title was zoo keeper but unfortunately he lacked necessary qualifications. Still it did mean that he got to spend quality time with Kaltenecker, the zoo’s dairy cow and a surprisingly good listener.

“Oi Lance, pick up the pace.” Lance turned to see one of his co-workers standing at the fence of the paddock. “You’re not on Mexican time anymore.”

“Doug, we’ve been over this. I’m Cuban,” Lance replied in frustration.

“What’s the difference?”

“The difference is that I wouldn’t be able to get to this country with a car.”

“Of course not,” Doug replied. “Border Security would stop you.”

Thankfully Doug left before Lance had to respond. Instead, he just let out a groan of annoyance.

“Good grief, I need to find some better co-workers.” He turned to give Kaltenecker a pat. “Except for you. You’re awesome.”

Kaltenecker let out a moo that Lance assumed was her voicing her agreement.

* * *

Pidge resisted the urge to groan when she and Shiro finally arrived at the secure location.

“I know it good precaution to set up meetings like this well away from our operations but it’s still a pain,” She muttered. “I hope this guy appreciates this effort we go through for meetings like this.

They entered a room where a person was bound to a chair with a bag on his head.

“Somehow I doubt he will,” Shiro replied dryly.

Pidge approach the figure and pulled off the bag from their head, revealing it to be the manager from Yanko’s.

“What the hell is going on?” The manager demanded.

Instead of answering his question Pidge asked, “Do you know who I am?” 

She could clearly see the recognition in his eyes but he took a moment, clearly trying to think of the best way to answer.

“You...were one of the customers that complained about that fuckwit Lance.” The manager replied.

Pidge responded by punching him in the dick. The manager doubled over as much the chair allowed from the pain.

“Do you know who I am?” Pidge repeated.

“You’re Katherine Holt,” the manager finally said when the pain started to subside.

“Do you know why that is a name to fear?"

"I have…heard rumours."

"So what have You heard about me that would make you think selling me out to a cartel would end well for you?" 

"What? I don't know what you're talking about."

Pidge rolled her eyes. By this point she had with so many people trying to play stupid when confronted with their misdeeds that she couldn’t gather enough energy to be annoyed by this. Instead she took out a tablet and brought up the intel they had gathered.

“You know I replayed the night a few times in my head because something did not feel right. Then it occurred to me, you offered us free drinks to convince us to stay.”

“So?”

“So I once saw a waiter drop a bowl of hot soup on a customer’s lap and you still charged them for it,” Shiro said. “The only reason you would offer free drinks is if you were desperate to make us stay.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” The manager replied.

“No, but it gave us reason to look into you,” Pidge explained. “Three months ago you started dating the sister of one the cartel members that had been killed in the alley. Not long ago you started spending money on things that you definitely couldn’t afford working at Yanko’s. Then we looked at your phone records and you made a call to them shortly after they arrived. Now this is purely speculation but this all tells me that they were paying you to let them know if any juicy targets came to eat at Yanko’s.”

“Please don’t kill me,” the manager pleaded, realising there was no point in trying to deny it. “I could be useful to your operation.”

“I highly doubt that,” Pidge replied. “Besides, it’s not really up to me,”

“What?”

“The Domínguez Cartel has decided to formally accept You into their ranks. Your new bosses want to have a word with you regarding your three brothers in arms who you led to their deaths.”

Realisation dawned on the manager. 

“Please!” the manager pleaded even harder. “They’ll kill me.”

“That’s possible,” Pidge replied. “Or they may just give you a stern talking to. Or it might be something in between, I don’t really know and that’s not really my concern. Besides you seemed perfectly fine accepting their money, it’s only fair you accept their form of justice as well. Though there is just one more thing to deal with.”

Rizavi set up her tattoo kit beside the manager.

“All members of the Domínguez Cartel are expected to carry the mark of the Domínguez Cartel,” Pidge explained. “It would be embarrassing for you to turn up there without the mark.”

All set to begin, Rizavi asked, “Alright so where is the mark supposed to go?”

“Placement of the mark varies between members,” Leifsdottir offered. “Among some members the more prominent the mark the more committed they are to the cartel with the most committed carrying the mark on their face.”

“So how committed is this guy?”

“Downright fanatical,” Pidge answered.

Understanding the meaning behind Pidge’s words, Rizavi brought the pen to the manager’s face. He jerked and pleaded as he tried to get away from the needle approaching his face. When the needle started entering his flesh he started to scream and thrash wildly. After a moment Rizavi pulled back the pen in frustration.

“Look buddy, I know this is probably your first tattoo but if you keep moving around like that you’re gonna lose an eye.”

Rather than give the manager a chance to stay still, Kinkade took hold of his head to keep it in place. It didn’t stop the screaming but at least meant Rizavi had a mostly stationary canvas to work on. T

“There! Finished!” Rizavi finally declared.”I hope you don’t mind me adding a few more details to the design. Just wanted to add a bit of my own creative flair to it.”

The manger didn’t respond, instead tears streamed down his bleeding and freshly inked face. 

“Yeah sometimes I’m moved to tears by my own art too,” Rizavi said as she took out a cloth and a bottle of antiseptic. “Now to make sure it doesn’t get infected.”

She poured an extra large dose of antiseptic onto the cloth and roughly applied it to the manager’s face, causing more screaming.

“Are you done?” Pidge asked in a bored tone.

“Yeah I’m done.” Rizavi declared.

“You crazy bitch!” the manager spat out.

Rizavi elbowed the manager in the face, breaking his nose.

"Now I’m done.”

Pidge and Shiro stepped out as their men prepared the manager for transport and made sure any evidence of the manager having been there was cleaned up.

“The closest someone got to catching me off guard in a while and it turned out to be because the manager sold me out,” Pidge mused. “Almost feels anticlimactic.”

“Considering the alternative was either that Matt or I sold you out or that the cartel had a way of tracking your movements without us being aware of it, I’m happy for anticlimactic,” Shiro replied. “Still, I’m just glad that this is over for now.”

Pidge nodded. “For now” is never an extremely comforting note to finish on but it was the best she could hope for at the moment. Things with the cartel had thankfully not escalated. The cartel claimed that three men had acted on their own without the knowledge or permission of the heads of the cartel. Pidge meanwhile oversold how protected she had been, painting a picture of how it had been more the men’s own stupidity that had gotten them killed since no one could blame Pidge and her men for defending themselves from such a blatant threat.

The manager was offered to the cartel to show that she bares no ill will, or at least that was the official story. Despite obligatory sabre-rattling neither Pidge nor the cartel was willing to risk going to full out war over this. Instead a ceasefire was called to prevent any escalation. 

This didn’t mean letting bygones be bygones. Three cartel members were dead and whether acting on their own, this was still a blatant attempt on Pidge well outside of cartel territory. This was far from over even if both sides were wanting to avoid open conflict.

For now they would be vigilant and be ready for any future complications, as they always were.

“I’ll go make sure the manager is dropped off,” Shiro said. “The MFEs will take you back home.”

“Remind me again why we let the team named themselves?” Pidge asked.

“Because it would help with cohesion by helping them identify as a unit.”

“I get that but did they really have to go with the Mother Fucking Elites?”

“Rizavi really had her heart set on the name and the others were too polite to vote against it. Especially since you vetoed all her other suggestions.”

“We both know she made her other suggestions purposely bad so I’d let her go with that one.”

“And yet you allowed it.”

Pidge shrugged. “She showed initiative and insight into human behaviour.”

* * *

Pidge was in the back seat of the car, Leifsdottir was driving and Rizavi was in the passenger seat while Griffin and Kinkade were following behind them in their own car. 

Pidge looked at her phone and smiled when she saw Lance had sent a picture of him holding a lamb.

“You know, it might not be my place to say,” Rizavi began. “But whatever it is that you’re doing differently, you should keep it up.”

“Excuse me?”

“I can’t put my finger on it but you just seem happier, almost lighter in your actions.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow.

“I just ordered that a man’s face be tattooed against his will and that he be left to the mercy of a cartel that’s famous for having next to none.”

“Oh please, that prick tried to sell you out to the cartel for a quick buck.” Rizavi replied dismissively. “Honestly your response was almost playful.” She looked over to Leifsdottir. “What do you think?”

“There has been roughly a 25% increase in behavioural traits commonly associated with a positive emotional state,” Leifsdottir replied. “You also check your phone roughly 30% more often.”

“Thank you Leifsdottir,” Pidge replied as she defensively pocketed her phone. “Did you have any observations about Rizavi you would like to share?”

“Her bathroom breaks have been occurring roughly 12% more frequently since she changed breakfast cereals and she now uses a brand of tampons that’s on average 38 cents cheaper than the old brand.”

“Okay, I kinda deserved that,” Rizavi conceded. “Look, if I’m out of line, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to pry but you’re a good boss and I like the idea of you doing things that make you happy.”

“Thank you,” Pidge replied. “I appreciate the sentiment.”

There was a moment of amicable silence until Leifsdottir spoke again.

“I’ve increased my daily water intake by roughly 40% after the colour of my urine indicated that I may be mildly dehydrated.”

She noticed the two other women staring at her.

“I just realised that stating observations I had made of you two without providing observations I have made of myself may be considered rude.”

* * *

Later that night Pidge was on the phone with Lance, their conversation covered a range of topics but currently, they were having a heated debate about which Tales of the Velvet Dreamscape game had the best story line.

“Come on Lance, you can’t tell me TVD 5 had a better story than TVD 3. It is universally accepted that TVD 3 had the better party of characters.”

“TVD 3 had some decent characters but that doesn’t mean it had the better story. That moment when Stavarna sacrificed her humanity in order to harness the full power of the Crimson Abyss and save the world had more impact than anything in TVD 3.”

“TVD 5 had one big moment, TVD 3 had a million small moments of subtle characterisation.”

“Screw subtly give me impact, give me a greater world, give me a villain that doesn’t look like a reject Chucky Cheese character.”

“Hey! No one bad mouths Lord Doomega in my presence.”

There was a moment of silence before both Lance and Pidge burst out laughing. After the laughter died down Lance spoke again.

“So Pidge, I’m free Sunday next week and I was wondering if you’d like to get together and do some sort of activity.”

Pidge blinked a couple of times.

“You want to get together and do some sort of activity?”

“Yeah, if you were interested.”

“What sort of ‘activity’?” Pidge enquired.

“I’m flexible, we could go see a movie, go to the petting Zoo so you can meet Kaltenecker, take Bae Bae to the park, stay in and laugh at some trashy tv, go get a coffee. Whatever you think would make for a fun da…” Lance suddenly trailed off.

“A fun what?” Pidge asked.

“Er... A fun day,” Lance quickly replied. “You know, because we’d have fun and it is happening during the day time.”

“Lance, were you about the say ‘date’?”

“Yeeeaah I was,” Lance admitted.

“Oh,” Pidge’s mouth suddenly felt very dry.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make things awkward by throwing around the d-word.” Lance apologised. “The point I’m trying to make is that I would love to spend some time with you and not too worried about what we do.”

Pidge meanwhile was trying to process Lance’s earlier statement.

“You would be interested in the activity being a date...related...activity?”

“If you were comfortable with it being a date...related...activity, I would definitely be interested. Otherwise getting together for a non date...related… activity would be awesome too.”

“Totally,” Pidge replied. “Activities are great regardless of whether or not they are date...related.” There was a pointed silence until Pidge spoke again. “This got awkward didn’t it?”

“Honestly? Being arrested and accused of a triple homicide wasn’t this awkward.” Lance admitted.

That got a smile out of Pidge.

“Tell you what, I’ve got to first check if I’m free that Sunday. If I am then we can decide on what sort of activity we want to do.”

“Sounds good,” Lance replied, clearly hopeful due to Pidge not shooting down his idea outright. “Talk soon.”

Lance hung up, leaving Pidge to try to process this revelation.

“Holy shit, Lance wants to go on a date with me.”

As she tried to figure out how she felt about this fact she made a second shocking revelation.

“Holy shit, I want to go on a date with Lance!”

* * *

The next day Pidge had Griffin and Kinkade drive her over to Altea, Daibazaal & Smythe, Allura’s law firm. She told Griffin and Kinkade to wait in the car for her as she entered the building.

Shiro and Matt might not approve if they found out but she needed to make sure this conversation was kept private, even from her own organisation. 

She entered the elevator and rode it to the top floor. As she stepped out she ran into a man with ginger hair, a three piece suit and a moustache.

“Hi Coran,” Pidge said warmly.

“Hello there Ms Holt,” Coran said warmly. “I hope you’re well.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. Coran was almost like a second father to Allura so in the past she would try to insist the Coran call her Pidge or at the very least Katie. Coran however insisted that since Pidge was technically a client of the firm she should be referred to in formal terms whenever she came to the firm.

“Pretty good. And you?”

“As well as can be expected.”

Pidge headed over to Allura’s office. Romelle, Allura’s personal assistant, was at her desk outside Allura’s office.

“Hello Ms Holt,” Romelle said warmly. “Ms Altea will be with you shortly, she’s just finishing some business with one of the other partners.”

Right on cue, Allura’s door opened. Out stepped a younger looking man in a black suit with slicked back platinum blonde hair. Pidge’s expression instantly soured. 

“Ms Holt,” Lotor greeted with a nod of the head. “Nice to see you again.”

“Mr Daibazaal,” Pidge replied curtly.

Able to take a hint that Pidge had no desire to continue a conversation, Lotor took his leave.

Pidge walked into Allura’s office and saw her slurping on a smoothie.

“Hello Pidge.” 

“Hi Allura,” Pidge replied. “”What’s with the smoothie?”

“It’s my payment from Lance McClain for representing him,” Allura replied. “Not usually my thing but they are actually really good.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow but instead of pressing the matter she decided to make use of the segue.

“Actually I was wanting to talk to you about Lance.”

“As I said in the message, Lance is free and clear,” Allura explained. “Even if they wanted to charge him they have no case.”

“That’s great but I was actually hoping to know what You thought of him.”

“Seems like a decent guy,” Allura replied with a shrug. “More legally savvy than most civilians which is refreshing. Are you interested in recruiting him for your organisation?”

“I’m interested but not in recruiting him,” Pidge admitted.

“Excuse me?” Allura asked as she put down the smoothie.

“I was considering...the possibility… of me potentially...dating him.” The last part came out as little more than a whisper.

Allura blinked a couple of times. She then pressed the button to the intercom.

“Romelle, I am not to be disturbed for the next hour.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Allura then pushed Pidge into a seat, put her seat next to Pidge and sat down. When she spoke next it was filled with unbridled glee.

“Tell me everything!”

Pidge proceeded to tell Allura everything. Allura obviously knew about what had happened at Yanko’s but Pidge filled in what had happened before and what had happened after. 

“So what’s Lance’s story,” Allura finally asked when Pidge had finished.  


“I’m not entirely sure,” Pidge answered. “He does various jobs to get by, was originally from Cuba and he gets around town on a moped.”

Allura raised an eyebrow.

“If that’s all you were able find out about him, that might be cause for concern.”

“Well…I haven’t done any digging into him.”

“You haven’t…” Allura couldn’t believe her ears. “Pidge you run background checks on everyone so intense that even the secret service would consider them overkill. Having info on everyone isn’t just a precaution for you, it’s a point of pride.”

“He’s letting me choose what I tell him about me, no questions asked,” Pidge explained. “He almost got shot and the only question he had was whether I was in trouble. He wants to get to know me but he’s letting me do it on my terms. Him having no say in me learning everything about him feels wrong.”

“Pidge, that’s…”

“Stupid?”

“...sweet.” Allura finished.

“But can I afford to be sweet?” Pidge asked. “My gut tells me I can trust him but this isn’t just me I’m put at risk if I’m wrong. Everyone I care about could be harmed but I feel like if I do my usual checks and find out he’s not a threat I’ll still feel like I’ve ruined any possible relationship because I completely dissected his life while he acted completely in good faith.”

A llura pondered for a moment.

“You know, I just had a thought,” Allura said. “It’s a little more low tech and old school than what you’re used to.”

“Shoot.”

“What if you ask someone that you trusted to have your best interests at heart to check Lance out. Explain you don’t want specifics, just that you want to know if Lance raised any red flags for them. That way, you feel like you’ve exercised due diligence but still going into this in good faith.”

Pidge considered this.

“That...actually sounds like a good idea.”

“Glad you like it but before you ask, it can’t be me,” Allura stated. “Client confidentiality is not just a thing lawyers throw around to piss off law enforcement. Even if it was just one case, Lance is still my client and any justification you might give for why client confidentiality doesn’t apply here is going far more into the grey than what I’m willing to go, even for you.”

“That’s fair,” Pidge conceded. “Still, I’ve had an idea of who I could ask.”

* * *

After finishing her conversation with Allura, Pidge had Griffin and Kinkade drive her to Balmera Street. The car came to stopped outside a repair shop called “Hunk’s Garage”.

“This may take a while so feel free to get something to eat from the bodega,” Pidge said as she got out of the car.

“I don’t like this,” Griffin said once Pidge was gone.

“I actually think the food from that Bodega is pretty good.”

“Not that!” Griffin said. “This waiting by the car nonsense while the boss goes in unprotected.”

“Is this about the whole Keith saving her thing?” Kinkade asked. “Because you’ve made your dislike of the guy pretty clear and it’s getting kinda old.”

“We should have been there!” Griffin snapped. “Shiro’s pet project wouldn’t have to have gotten involved if she hadn’t been left exposed.”

Kinkade rolled his eyes, he loved Griffin like a brother but even he found him a little intense sometimes. “If you feel so strongly about this, tell her, not me.”

“I’m not going to question her orders. It’s disrespectful.”

“Frankly I think bitching about it behind her back is more disrespectful.”

Griffin said nothing at first but then opened his door with a huff.

“I’m getting something to eat,” he declared. “Want anything?”

“One of their burritos if they have any.”

“Fine but we’re keeping the windows rolled down.”

* * *

Entering the garage, Pidge was treated to the usual greeting. That greeting involving hugs from both Hunk and his girlfriend Shay. This was then followed by Pidge being dragged to their kitchen and sat down at the table. A full plate of food would then be placed in front of her and no discussion would happen until that plate was empty.

“You know, not even my Italian mother is as obsessed with getting me to eat more as you are,” Pidge said in half hearted protest since the food had been delicious as always.

“Well maybe if you took the time to eat regular meals I wouldn’t be as obsessed.” Hunk replied. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, it’s something of a sensitive nature,” Pidge said. “I know you won’t keep any secrets from Shay but I need both of you to promise me that what I tell you doesn’t leave this room.”

“We promise,” Shay replied.

“So what’s going on?” Hunk asked.

“I’ve met someone,” Pidge explained.

Hunk blinked, it was obvious he hadn’t expected that type of announcement.

“When you say you’ve met someone, do you mean like how I met Shay?”

“Yes.”

“Eeeeeeeh!” Hunk squealed in delight.

“So who’s the lucky guy?” Shay asked. “...or girl...or sentient A.I. I promise not to judge it’s just Hunk has never told me what you are into.”

“Up until 5 seconds ago I’d have said nothing,” Hunk said before turning his attention back to Pidge. “But yes, tell us everything.”

Pidge went on to explain the situation with Lance and why she had come to Hunk.

“So you want me to suss him out and make sure he’s not someone dangerous?”

“Yeah pretty much.”

“So what do Matt and Shiro think of Lance?”

“I...haven’t... told them that I’ve been talking to Lance.”

“Pidge…”

“I know I know,” Pidge replied. “It’s just I know Matt is going to say it’s too risky right off the bat and I honestly don’t know what Shiro would do but he could just as likely agree with Matt.”

Hunk and Shay looked at each other. Neither of them had ever heard of Pidge doing anything behind Matt and Shiro’s back.

“Alright Pidge, let’s make a deal,” Hunk said finally. “I’ll check Lance out, make sure he’s on the level but when you get the thumbs up from me you’ve got to tell Matt and Shiro about him.”

Pidge contemplated this for a moment before finally saying, “Deal.”

She provided Hunk all of the information she had on Lance before leaving.

Once alone, Shay turned to Hunk and said excitedly, “Do you know what this could mean?”

“This could mean a multitude of things,” Hunk replied. “But what thing were you thinking about?”

“We could finally have double dates!”

Hunk smiled at this. “I love the enthusiasm but we first need to make sure Lance is on the up and up.”

“Right, so how do we do it?”

“Not sure, we can’t introduce ourselves as Pidge’s friends,” Hunk said. “In the off chance he’s law enforcement or part of a rival organisation we can’t risk him knowing we’re connected to Pidge. We need to create a scenario where we just happen to cross paths and get to talking that’s not going to create suspicion.”

Shay paused for a moment and then got an inspiration. 

“Hey, Pidge said Lance rides a moped right.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So what if he suddenly found himself in need of a mechanic?”

* * *

The next morning came round and Hunk was waiting in his pick up truck around the corner from where Lance parked his moped. As planned Shay had gone ahead to engineer a small fault in the moped so then when it doesn’t start properly Hunk and Shay would roll by, ready to help out someone in need. Hunk wasn’t a huge fan of this level of sneakiness but he honestly couldn’t think of a faster way to engineer a meeting without revealing his connection Pidge.

Hunk was brought out of his thoughts by Shay climbing into the truck.

“So are we all set?” he asked.

“Kinda,” Shay said as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

They came round the corner to find Lance in front of his moped, which was smoking profusely and hissing like a rabin opossum.

“Uh….Sweetie? The plan was to give it just a small fault.”

“I hadn’t even touched it yet,” Shay replied flatly.

Hunk winced.

“Ooooh boy.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm so sorry about the delay in getting this out. Had a lot more to deal with the last few months than what I had been expecting. Still, things are back to normal and I'm ready to get back into writing. The next chapter will definitely be much sooner.
> 
> A major shoutout to a-haunted-sock on Tumblr who made an awesome piece of art inspired by this fic.  
https://a-haunted-sock.tumblr.com/post/189924522095/the-family-happy-holidays-to-my-secret-santa


	5. Omelettes, Conversations and only a minor risk of concussions

“Thank god you guys were in the area,” Lance said. “I had no idea how I was going to get Blue to a mechanic.”

Lance’s day had not gotten off to the best start, mainly because Blue, Lance’s “ever faithful” moped had broken down. Well, broken down was being charitable. It would have been more appropriate to say that it was trying to reenact the Exorcist. 

Though, fortunately, a pick up truck pulled by and they offered to help Lance get Blue looked at.

“Yeah,” Hunk said with a nervous chuckle. “What a lucky coincidence.”

The pick up truck pulled into Hunk’s Garage. As Lance and Shay unloaded the moped Hunk approached Rax who was working on a nearby car.

“Rax, old buddy old pal,” Hunk said cheerfully.

“Whatever you want Hunk, the answer is no,” Rax replied bluntly as he continued to work.

“Well since I’m asking you as your boss, the answer is yes.”

Rax put down his tool in a huff.

“Fine..._ boss _...what do you need?”

“Shay and I need to have a word with the customer, make a start on seeing what’s wrong with his moped.”

“Fine.”

Hunk returned to Lance and Shay. 

“Rax is going to take a look at your ride, in the meantime let's get a bite to eat.”

“Err... ok,” Lance replied. “Are you sure Blue is fixable.”

“Trust me, Rax is one of my best mechanics,” Hunk said. “He’ll have it fixed in a jiffy.”

“DAMN IT HUNK!” Rax called out. “BOMB DEFUSAL IS NOT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION!”

“He also has a great sense of humour,” Hunk said before quickly whisking Lance and Shay off to the kitchen. 

* * *

Lance let out an approving whistle.

“This is one fancy kitchen,” he commented. “You sure this is still a garage or did we walk into a 5 star restaurant?”

“Hunk is a bit of a foodie,” Shay explained.

“I’m not a foodie,” Hunk countered. “I’m just someone who can appreciate the joys of good food and how it can bring people together.”

“Of course,” Shay said with an eye roll. “How could I not see that distinction?”

“Though speaking of food,” Hunk said, making use of the segue. “I was about to make Shay and myself some omelets. Would you like one?”

“Errr...no,” Lance replied. “I already ate breakfast.”

That breakfast had consisted of a bowl of cheap cereal and the half of his last banana that wasn’t overripe followed by the overripe half since he really couldn’t afford to be picky.

“Then consider it brunch,” Shay said. “Trust me it’s worth it.”

“Well alright then.”

“Great,” Hunk replied. “I’d offer you a coffee to go with the omelets but we recently swapped our old coffee machine for an espresso machine and I’m still trying to get the hang of using it.”

That part was a lie. Hunk would never allow anything to be in his kitchen that he couldn’t use properly. But Pidge had said Lance was a barista and Hunk believed you could tell a lot from the effort someone put in their craft. It was also pretty telling when someone has just been put through a speed training by law enforcement to sell a cover id. 

As Hunk hoped, Lance took the bait. 

“Well if you're making omelettes, I can make the coffees.”

“Sounds great.”

While Hunk got the ingredients for the omelettes, Lance got to work on the coffees. Taking everyone’s requests, Lance made a Latte for Shay, a Cappuccino for Hunk and an Espresso for himself. 

Once he was done making coffee he sat back down with Shay, shortly after one of the most delicious looking omelettes Lance had ever seen was placed in front of him. He took a bite and was amazed at how it tasted even better than it looked.

“This is so good,” Lance said enthusiastically.

“Thank you,” Hunk replied. “This coffee really hits the spot too. So if you don't mind me asking, what do you do?”

“I’m a musician but unfortunately I haven’t quite managed to get to the stage where I can live on that alone so I do some side jobs to pay the bills and keep me fed. I don’t quite have the resolve to be a starving artist.”

“No way I’d be willing to be a starving anything,” Hunk replied.

“So Lance,” Shay said. “Seeing anyone?”

“I’m flattered you asked but I’m not quite ready to join a ménage à trois,” Lance replied. “Still if you guys keep feeding me like this I might consider it.”

Both Hunk and Shay turned bright red.

“That’s not what she meant,” Hunk sputtered.

Lance burst out laughing. 

“I’m just messing with you guys,” Lance replied. “Though the look on your faces was priceless.”

After a moment both Hunk and Shay let out a good natured chuckle.

“Yeah you got us.”

“To answer your question, kinda.” Lance admitted. “There is someone who I really like that I asked out on a date. They haven’t yet gotten back to me about whether they are free that day but I haven’t yet gotten an outright rejection from her so I’ve got my fingers crossed.”

“Well I’ve got my fingers crossed too,” Shay replied.

“Me too,” Hunk replied as he subtly gave Lance another look over.

At that moment an old lady walked in.

“Hello everyone,” She said. “I hope this isn’t a bad time.”

“Hi Grandma,” Shay greeted.

“Hi Nana,” Hunk said. “What brings you here.”

“I just came by to bring you a quiche as thanks for fixing my air conditioner.” Nana held out a dish.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have,” Hunk said with a strained smile as he took the dish.

“It’s my pleasure,” Nana replied, she then noticed Lance sitting there. “Lance? Is that you?”

“Nana Ocampo!” Lance exclaimed, recognising the old lady. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You too Lance,” Nana replied. 

“You know each other?” Shay asked

“Lance here works at the petting zoo I take the kids to sometimes,” Nana explained. “He’s usually showing my group around and telling the kids about the animals.”

Nana made it a habit to take the kids on Balmera Street on outings to show them parts of the city that they might not see normally. Hunk and Shay would help out from time to time but Nana had gotten very good at finding volunteers.

“I’m sorry again about what happened with Mr Gruff,” Nana said.

“Mr Gruff?” Hunk asked.

“He’s a billy goat at the zoo,” Lance explained. “A bit ill tempered.”

“Some of the kids were tormenting him,” Nana said. “Lance stepped in but got rammed in the chest by Mr Gruff.”

“Eh, it wasn’t that bad,” Lance said dismissively. “According to the doctor my ribs were only bruised, not broken, and you making them clean out the enclosures as punishment made the rest of that workday easier.”

“So what brings you here?”

“Having some issues with my moped.”

“That’s your moped? Rax wanted me to tell you he was finished looking at it.”

As everyone filed out of the kitchen, Hunk scooted over to Nana.

“So when was the first time you saw Lance work at the petting zoo?” He quietly asked.

“About a year ago,” Nana replied. “Why?”

“Just curious.”

They all returned to the garage where Rax was waiting for them.

“So how’s it look?” Lance asked.

“Your moped is a catastrophe held together by duct tape and most likely a Faustian bargain with a demonic entity,” Rax replied. “There’s not a single part on this thing that’s up to standard. The sheer fact you’ve been riding on this death trap and yet still live is either a miracle or some cosmic joke. Hell, the fact that I’m within ten feet of it should entitle me to hazard pay.”

“Rax,” Hunk said in a warning tone. “What did we say about talking to customers?”

Rax let out an awkward cough and put on an obviously fake smile.

“What I meant to say is that there may be some difficulty in fixing it.”

“How much difficulty?” Lance asked, well aware he was being overly optimistic.

“Considering you were riding round on this piece of crap, far more than you can afford.”

“Alright Rax, you’re done here,” Hunk said.

Rax gave an apathetic shrug before heading back to the car he had been working on.

“I’m sure he was just exaggerating,” Hunk said. “Give me a second to have a look at it myself.”

Lance, Shay and Nana waited patiently as Hunk looked over the moped.

“Okay so Rax could have been nicer about it but he wasn’t exaggerating,” Hunk admitted when he finished his inspection. “Even if we could fix the immediate issues, and that’s an unbelievably big if, something else is going to give out real soon anyway.”

Lance let out a deflated sigh. 

“Thanks for looking,” he said. “Do I owe you anything?”

“No charge,” Hunk replied. “And not to be insensitive but would you like us to dispose of it?”

“Yeah would be great thanks,” Lance replied. “Well I better not take up any more of your time.”

“Wait, don’t you want a ride home?”

“You guys have already gone above and beyond,” Lance said as he patted his moped. “Later blue.”

Lance thanked everyone again and bid them farewell. He then walked out of the garage with his head held high. It was only when he was halfway down the block that he stopped and pressed his forehead against a nearby wall. He took a few deep breaths.

“It’s alright, this is just a setback,” Lance muttered to himself. “Stay calm and focus on the first step.”

“Are you alright there dear?”

Lance abruptly stood back up and saw Nana standing there.

“Are you alright?” Nana repeated. 

“Yeah yeah,” Lance said quickly. “Just taking a moment.”

“Completely understandable,” Nana said. “I’m sorry Hunk couldn’t fix your moped. I promise you he would have if it was remotely possible.”

Lance tried so very hard to put a positive spin on this but at the moment he couldn’t think of something.

“I’m sure he would have. It’s not that I doubt Blue is beyond repair. She was never anything special but she got the job done,” Lance admitted. “It’s just I can’t get to all of my jobs without a set of wheels. I know I’ll figure something out, I always do, it’s just I didn’t need this headache right now.”

Nana paused thoughtfully. 

“You know Lance, I may have a solution for you.”

* * *

“It’s nothing fancy,” Nana said. “But it’s still in good condition.”

Lance looked over the red moped Nana had brought Lance, Hunk and Shay to. It was an old model but still in excellent condition.

“I can’t take this.”

“Please, I can’t ride it anymore and I would rather see it getting used than collecting dust,” Nana replied. “Consider this an apology for what happened with Mr Gruff.”

“Even so…” Lance really needed a mode of transport but it didn’t feel right taking the moped for nothing in return.

“Tell you what, help out with a few of my outings with the kids and we’ll call it even.”

“Ok then, deal.” Lance finally agreed. “Thank you.”

“Great cause I have an outing in the half hour and the person that was meant to be helping me bailed. Hunk can give the moped a check over and make sure it’s roadworthy by the time we get back. Wait for me at the street while I lock up.”

“You got it.”

Lance left, leaving Hunk and Nana.

“That was really nice of you to give him your old moped,” Hunk said

“It’s partially out of self-interest,” Nana replied. “If Lance can’t get to his job at the petting zoo, next time I take the kids we’ll probably get stuck with Doug. Last time we were stuck with that idiot he told the low fat milk joke twice and asked me what part of Mexico I’m from.”

“But...you’re Filipino.”

“You see why I can’t afford to lose Lance at the petting zoo?”

* * *

Pidge heard her phone give a ding. She checked to see that it was a message from Hunk. All it was was a single thumbs-up emoji but Pidge got the meaning instantly. She felt her heart leap with joy but then felt a lead weight fall into the pit an of her stomach as she realised it was time for her to uphold her part of the deal. She messaged Shiro and Matt, telling them that they needed to talk and to meet her in the conference room.

The conference room was the room that was created for conversations that the three of them could not afford to have overheard. It was soundproof, constantly locked with only the three of them having access and a noise generator that was set at too high a frequency for people to hear but made any potential listening devices only pick up static. 

Simply put, this room was privacy, paranoia and discretion on steroids.

She arrived first with Matt and Shiro arriving shortly afterward. As per protocol, not a word is said until the door closes.

“So what’s the situation?” Shiro asked.

Pidge swallowed and steadied her nerves and she prepared for what came next. “I’ve been in communication with Lance.”

That got Matt’s attention.

“That waiter from Yanko’s?”

“Yes, the guy who almost took a bullet for me,” Pidge replied.

“What sort of communication?” Shiro asked.

“And more importantly, why?” Matt added.

“He gave me his number before that mess with the cartel went down,” Pidge explained. “After Allura got him cleared I used a burner line to get in touch. Since then we’ve been messaging and calling.”

“Have you seen him in person?” Shiro asked.

“No.” 

“Do you want to?”

Pidge resisted a groan. Sometimes she really hated when Shiro turned on dad mode.

“Yes I do.”

“You still haven’t told us why?”

Pidge gave a shrug.

“I don’t know,” Pidge admitted. “I just want to spend more time with him.”

“You don’t know?” Matt asked in disbelief. “You always have a clear reason for everything you do.”

“Well this time I don’t,” Pidge snapped back. “Contrary to what a lot of people think I am actually human and sometimes people want things without clearly knowing why.” 

There was a tense moment of silence between the siblings. Shiro wanted to interject but knew that they needed to work this out between them.

Matt finally spoke. “Okay, we’ll make it happen.”

This genuinely surprised Pidge. 

“What?”

“You’re my sister. I want you to be safe but I also want you to be happy,” Matt explained. “If you want to spend time with Lance I’ll do what I can to help make it happen.”

“Me too,” Shiro added.

“We’ll need to read some more people in on this but we will keep the circle small,” Matt said. “I can’t leave you without protection but I doubt you’d want me or Shiro playing chaperone.”

“Fuck no,” Pidge replied with a laugh before giving a sincere “Thank you”.

“Like Matt said, we want you safe but also happy,” Shiro replied.

“In that case, Lance was wanting to meet up on Sunday. Nothing specific in mind so we can plan something.”

“We can make it work,” Shiro answered.

Pidge got a message on her phone.

“I’ve got to go, we can finish this discussion later.”

Both Shiro and Matt nodded before Pidge left. Both sat in silence for a moment as they processed what Pidge had told them.

“You handled that quite well,” Shiro said.

“This isn’t a tv sitcom where I get to be the overly-protective older brother that tries to chase away boys with a baseball bat,” Matt replied. “Pidge really wants this and if I said no she’d likely go behind our backs which could get her killed.”

“I agree, plus she was honest with us. Acting overprotective and paranoid is just likely to make her be dishonest with us in the future.”

“Still doesn’t mean we’re not going to investigate this Lance guy to make sure he’s not a threat.”

“Of course not.” 

* * *

The outing Nana had planned for the kids was fairly low key. The group went to a massive park and were kicking around soccer balls, throwing frisbees and stuff like that. It was low key but seeing how the kids were enjoying themselves, Lance could see the wisdom in it. His phone dinged. He checked it and saw he had gotten a message from Pidge.

**Pidge: I’m free Sunday. Will call you tonight and we can discuss what we want to do for our date**

Lance pumped his fist in victory. His day hadn’t started to great but it had definitely turned itself around.

He then got hit in the head with a frisbee. 

“Sorry,” one of the kids called out

* * *

After finishing his deliberations with Shiro, Matt went back to his room. Booting up his personal computer he created a new file title “L.McClain”, where he would store all his digital findings. He then accessed his backdoor access into the DMV, all the law enforcement databases and the program he and Pidge had developed to scour all social media for a selected target. That was by no means the only places he'd check but that felt like a good place to start.

“Alright, Lance,” Matt said. “Prepare to have your life dissected.”

* * *

The next day Pidge met up with the MFEs in the conference room. After deliberating with Shiro, it was clear that they were the only ones that she could trust with this particular mission and while she could trust them to keep this under wraps it still was a weird sensation having them brought in on this.

“Alright team, what I have to tell you must be kept confidential at all costs. You have been selected because you have proven your skill and loyalty but the utmost discretion is required for this. Do you understand?”

The MFEs nodded to show their understanding. Pidge brought up a picture of Lance on her tablet and then placed it on the table for the MFEs to see.

“This is Lance McClain, I have a date with him this Sunday.”

There was a moment of silence. Kinkade raised his hand.

“Pardon me Ma’am, but when you say date do you mean…?”

“Yes Kinkade, I mean an actual date.”

Predictably the four MFEs look on in shock. Pidge let out a sigh.

“Yes this development is as much a surprise for me as it is for everyone else I’ve told,” Pidge said. “Now the reason I am telling you this is that I still need a protection detail but I can’t turn up to this date with a bunch of bodyguards. You four are to provide protection by keeping an eye out but without being seen by Lance or drawing attention to yourselves.” 

Pidge looked around and saw a few nods to let her know that they understood.

Leifsdottir then raised a hand.

“Will we be expected to watch you two engage in sexual intercourse?”

Everyone present stared at her. Pidge gaped as she felt a blush forming.

“That is...getting way...way...waaaaay ahead of ourselves,” Pidge managed to finally say. “This is just the first date.”

“Yeah and you don’t want me watching,” Rizavi added. “pretty soon I’ll start masturbating and then it’ll make things slightly awkward for everyone."

"Rizavi!" Griffin snapped. 

"Oh come on, it was a joke, could we all just lighten the hell up and acknowledge how awesome it is that the boss has a date," Rizavi shot back. “In fact, before this meeting continues, I formally request a celebratory fist bump from the boss in honour of her finding herself a hottie.”

To emphasize her point, Rizavi held out her fist expectantly.

“Now you four may have some questions regarding who Lance is,” Pidge continued, pointedly ignoring the fist as well as Rizavi’s dejected expressions when she lowered the fist. “Here is all you need to know, his name is Lance, he asked me out of on a date and I accepted. As such I will not be answering any questions regarding Lance.”

Rizavi raised a hand

“That includes whether or not he has any eligible siblings,” Pidge said. 

Rizavi’s hand remained raised.

“Or cousins.”

Rizavi lowered her hand.

Pidge proceeded to explain the plan for the date. It was mainly a casual affair that allowed for spontaneity but would keep them well in the open.

“That is all for now,” she finally said. “I will let you know if I have further updates.”

The MFEs started to leave.

“Rizavi.”

Rizavi stopped and turned back to Pidge. She then grinned broadly when she saw Pidge smiling faintly as she held out a fist. 

“Boom,” Rizavi said as she gave Pidge a fist bump. “I’m so happy for you right now. He looks like a catch."

“Thanks,” Pidge replied.

“If you need any advice on what to do on a first date, let me know.”

Pidge quirked an eyebrow.

“Why do you think I’d need advice on what to do on a first date?”

Rizavi then realised the dangerous waters she had just entered.

“What’s that Griffin?!” She called out into empty air before turning back to Pidge. “I better go see what he needs.”

She ran out of the room.

* * *

Lance was in the dog park, leading round the dogs he had been hired to walk.

Unknownst to him, Shiro was at a nearby bench, watching Lance’s movements.

As great as Matt and Pidge were in the digital world, Shiro knew all too well that some people liked to keep their dirty dealings low tech. To combat this, Shiro decided to do his checks the old fashioned way. But monitoring a person’s movements was a tall order to do single-handedly, especially since Lance had already seen Shiro’s face. 

Which is why Shiro decided to call in some help.

“You know if you had given me a little more warning that you wanted to meet in a dog park, I’d have brought Kosmo,” Keith commented as he sat on the bench beside Shiro. “So who is he?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Shiro replied. “At the moment he’s just a person of interest. Matt’s checking out his background so we will be monitoring his movements to see if he does anything suspicious.”

“Why us? Doesn’t the Syndicate have a whole bunch of rubes that can do this?”

“It’s important that we keep the number of people aware of him limited for the time being,” Shiro explained. “For now it’s just the two of us so we’ll take shifts. Considering this further training on recon and stealth.”

“Fair enough,” Keith said with a shrug. “So if he’s a threat will we take him out?”

“We’ll worry about that if we find reason to believe he's a threat, for now just worry about monitoring his movements,” Shiro replied. “Remember…”

“Patience yields focus,” Keith replied.


	6. Preperation

Pidge was working on her computer when she heard a knock on her door. She checked the feed and saw it was Matt so she unlocked it and let him.

“I’ve finished my background check on Lance so I thought it might be good to compare notes.”

Matt held up an impressively big binder.

“Thanks but I don’t want to see what You dug up about Lance.”

Matt looked taken aback by this. “But...but...It’s colour coded and uses descending tabs.”

“As it should be because we’re not animals but I don’t want to see it.”

“Come on PIdge, I know your background checks are thorough but it never hurts to have a second set of eyes.”

There was an awkward silence. Matt’s eyes narrowed.

“You have done a background check on him, haven’t you?”

“I had Hunk check him out.” Pidge answered. “Once Hunk gave his approval I left it at that.” 

Matt took in a couple of deep breaths to stop himself shouting “what the hell” at the top of his lungs.

“Look Pidge, I have nothing but respect for Hunk but…”

“Look Matt, I knew that you would do a thorough check on him when I told you about the date. I accepted it because you’d want to keep me and the organisation safe. I know it’s good practise but I don’t want to find out stuff about Lance without his permission.”

“So you want to go on a date with a person you know next to nothing about?”

“I actually know quite a bit about him, we’ve spoken quite a lot,” Pidge answered. “Besides, people have gone on dates with guys they’ve known even less about than I do about Lance.”

Matt looked like he had more to say but Pidge raised a hand to silence him.

“Look Matt, take off the big brother glasses for a second and forget that I want to date him. If we were considering hiring Lance to be our gardener and you read that binder, would you have found anything that would make him an obvious threat?”

Pidge could see the gears in Matt’s head turning at overdrive.

“No,” he finally said, clearly not liking the answer but wanting to be honest with Pidge.

“Then I’ll learn everything else the old fashioned way.”

Matt let out a defeated sigh.

“Alright but I’m hanging onto this,” Matt held up the binder. “If you change your mind about wanting to see it, let me know.”

“I won’t but thank you.”

At that Matt took his leave. As he walked to his room he processed what Pidge had said and decided on his next course of action. He would respect Pidge’s desire not to know anything about Lance but that would mean he was going to make extra certain that Lance could be trusted.

Once in his room, Matt took out his phone and dialed.

“Rolo? I have a job for you and your team.”

* * *

Lance sat on the street playing on his guitar. His workday started later in the day so he had decided to put in a few hours of busking. After a few hours of some of his best acoustic material, Lance had $17.50 and a stick of gum to show for it.

Still, busking was the closest thing Lance had to a steady gig so he couldn’t complain. Plus the gum was grape flavoured so that was a bonus. 

Checking the time, Lance saw it was time to head to his next job so he started to pack up his stuff.   
  


* * *

Keith watched as Lance packed up and then followed. He and Shiro had been taking shifts following Lance for the last five and a half days. In that time he had seen Lance as a dog walker, teaching Salsa to old people at a community centre, as a sign spinner, as a barista, as a lifeguard at a public pool and now as a busker. 

Keith wasn’t sure what potential threat Lance could be but he was convinced that Lance’s resume was as thick as a phone book.

Keith followed Lance into an alley. He kept his distance but saw Lance enter a building through a side entrance. Keith knew that trying to enter the building was too risky so he tried to back away and find a place where he can wait and keep an eye out.

“What are you doing here?”

Keith turned and saw a middle-aged lady with a lit cigarette leaning against one of the alley walls. Keith had been so focused on Lance that he had forgotten to keep track of his surroundings.

“Err…” Keith’s mind stalled as he tried to think of an excuse.

“That’s the staff entrance, customer entrance is at the front,” the lady said before taking a long drag from her cigarette.

“Right,” Keith said. “My mistake.”

The lady dropped the cigarette and crushed it with her foot.

“Come on,” She said as she grabbed Keith by the wrist.

Not sure what to do, Keith let himself be led out of the alley and through the front entrance of the building. Keith briefly noticed the sign on the door said “Dewy Jasmine Beauty”.

“Lilu, you have got to get a better sign,” the lady said to an older woman behind the counter. “This is the third customer that’s tried to come in through the side entrance.”

“Are you back from your break, Daisy?” Lilu asked. “Or are you busy wasting it to bitch about the sign some more?”

Daisy pointedly took out a fresh cigarette and stuck it in her mouth before walking out. Lilu focused her attention on Keith.

“Welcome to Dewy Jasmine Beauty. Do you have an appointment?”

“Err...no.”

Lilu tsked. “You’re lucky today is a quiet day. Did you want full service?”

“Sure,” Keith said, figuring it was better just to go with it.

“One moment,” Lilu replied before yelling. “LANCE!”

Keith cursed to himself as Lance stepped out, now wearing a shirt similar to Lilu’s.

“Yes?”

“Billy Rae Cyrus here wants full service,” Lilu explained.

“What did you call me?”

“Right this way,” Lance said.

Lance led Keith to a private room. Keith was privately fuming that he had let himself be seen by the person he was supposed to follow. Ultimately he accepted that there was nothing that could be done. His best bet was to continue to pretend to be a client and then go back to keeping his distance later out on. 

“Alright, if you could just get undressed I’ll get the wax ready.”

“Wait, what?”

* * *

About an hour later Keith walked out of Dewy Jasmine, having had all the hair from the neck down forcibly removed. He took out his phone and rang Shiro.

“Shiro, if this Lance guy turns out to be a threat, can I please be the one to kill him?”

“Let's cross that bridge when we get to it,” Shiro replied.

“Fine but if we get to that bridge, promise me that I'll be the one to set it on fire.”

“I think you're mixing up your metaphors”

* * *

It was Saturday night. Shiro had followed Lance to a bar called the Leprecan Finder. Shiro had honestly never heard of an Irish gay bar before but to be fair he wasn’t much of a bar goer in his off time.

Lance was tending bar and waiting tables. There were no good vantage points from outside so Shiro had to risk coming inside and find a quiet corner to try not to draw attention to himself. He didn’t literally stand in a corner, if anything that would draw more attention to him, instead he had found a table that hopefully was far enough from anything interesting that no one would pay him any attention. It was risky but this was his last chance to observe Lance before his date with Pidge so he took the gamble.

“I wouldn’t bother.”

Shiro looked up and saw a lean man with dark skin and blue eyes standing nearby.

“Excuse me?” Shiro asked.

“I wouldn’t bother with Lance,” the man clarified. “He’ll flirt for tips but he’s either as straight as a board or he simply doesn’t like people trying to hook up with him while he’s working. Both are valid reasons but neither helps your chances.”

Shiro’s mind went into high gear. This stranger had caught him staring at Lance but luckily he had also given Shiro an easy out.

“Oh…” Shiro said feigning mild embarrassment. “Was I being obvious?”

“No, you're quite subtle but you’ve been watching him the whole time you’ve been here. I’m Curtis, by the way.”

Curtis held out a hand. Shiro eyed it for a moment but sensing no malicious intent, he took it.

“Shiro,” he decided to subtly move the conversation away from what he was doing. “So if you knew that I was staring at...Lance was it?...that means you were watching me.”

Curtis shrugged.

“I hadn’t seen you here before and I’ll admit I was curious. Though if you don’t mind me say, this doesn’t seem to be your usual scene.”

“No, it’s not.” Shiro admitted. “Feels like eons since I’ve last been in a gay bar. Part of me is surprised gay bars are still a thing. You’d think with greater acceptance we’d all flock to regular bars.”

“Greater acceptance is a relative term, sometimes a place with guaranteed acceptance is more desirable,” Curtis replied. “Plus a plus in a place like this it’s easier to advertise what you’re into and that you’re available.”

Curtis made a point of quite blatantly eyeing Shiro up. He then asked “So can I buy you a drink or was your heart still set on the cute cuban?”

Shiro weighed up his options. He had been discovered. Either he run for it, which could draw attention to the fact he had arrived at the bar for ulterior motives, or stay and make Curtis part of his cover for being there, which would mean spending an extended period of time with Curtis.

“I don't want a drink.”

Curtis’s face fell.

“But I would appreciate the company if you were interested.”

Curtis’s expression turned to surprise and then a smirk developed.

“You didn’t strike me as a tease,” He said as he sat down.

Shiro shrugged.

“Stick around long enough and I might surprise you.”

“Is that a promise?”

* * *

It was Sunday, Griffin was in the safehouse. It was agreed that rather than meet up that the main estate, the MFEs would meet at a safe house, make their way to the park where the “date” was going to be held and then ensure it was secure before the boss got there.

Griffin was looking over the map of the park, double-checking for potential weak points and blind spots. He looked up when he heard the door open. Rizavi walked in, wearing a tank top, skinny jeans, sunglasses and a large purse slung over one shoulder.

“What are you wearing?” Griffin asked

“Good morning to you too,” Rizavi said. “It’s Sunday and we’re going to a park. Wearing a suit would sort of make me stick out.”

“And how will you conceal a weapon under such tight-fitting clothing? It’s bad enough the boss is leaving her self exposed, we don’t need you getting slack just cause this is a date and not a business meeting.”

Rizavi held open her purse for Griffin to see. Inside there was pepper spray, zip ties, a Glock and a submachine gun.

“The bag’s also weighted so if things get up close and personal it will make a pretty good bludgeon,” She said. “Just because I don’t have the same stick up my ass that you do, it doesn’t mean I’m not taking this seriously.”

“You’re right,” Griffin conceded. “I’m sorry.”

“So mind telling me what’s on your mind?” Rizavi asked. “And don’t tell me it’s about wanting to be professional or about that thing that at Yanko’s because we can’t be expected to keep her safe when she decides to go somewhere without us.”

“Exactly, she didn’t see the danger until it was almost too late.”

“She had Keith keeping an eye out.”

“Don’t pretend that she had the situation under control. She went in without fully understanding the situation and it almost cost her.”

Rizavi eyed Griffin. 

“What exactly is this about,” She asked.

“I did some digging into Lance.”

“Excuse me?”

“I remembered the manager from Yanko’s mentioning a Lance. It felt like a strange coincidence so I checked it out, asked some questions.” Griffin explained. “It was the same Lance so I managed to snag his details and get one of my contacts to run a background check.”

“Jesus Christ, James! What the hell were you thinking?!”

“I was discreet about it!”

“Yes, your discretion is the issue here, not the fact that you went behind the boss’s back to investigate her date,” Rizavi said sarcastically. “What could possibly have convinced you that it was a good idea?”

“Lance was in the alley when the boss got ambushed.”

“What?”

“The person I spoke to at Yanko’s said that Lance had been in the alley when the three cartel members got shot. The police took him in for questioning, it looks like he wasn’t charged.”

Rizavi took a moment to process this. 

“Alright,” She finally said. “It doesn’t make what you did okay but I can see how that would make you want to dig deeper. Did you find anything?”

“Nothing explicit but I still have concerns.”

“Of course you do,” Rizavi said in exasperation. “The boss could have a date with Mother Teresa and you’d have concerns.”

“Well considering Mother Teresa died in 97, I would have serious concerns if the boss had a date with her.”

“That’s not the point. Do you honestly believe that Lance wouldn’t have been vetted? There is no way your background search would have found anything the boss doesn’t already know.”

“Just because you have the information, doesn’t mean you know what’s going on.”

“Careful James,” Rizavi said in a warning tone. “Thinking you know more than your boss is dangerous in most jobs. In our line of work it’s potentially fatal.”

“I’m just trying to cover potential blindspots. In case you've forgotten, our job is to keep her alive.”

“And in case you’ve forgotten, there is more to being alive than simply not being dead,” Rizavi countered. “I think that this Lance could be good for her.”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

“No but I can already tell he’s making the boss happy.”

“Drugs make junkie’s happy,” Griffin shot back. “Doesn’t mean you should let them.”

“That is a really dumb analogy and in case you’ve forgotten, we’re not her parents.”

“But we’re her wingmen?”

“Hell yes we are, it’s about time the boss got some action,” Rizavi replied. “If I thought it would help I’d find Lance and tie him to her bed spread eagle and naked with rose petals. Wish you guys would do something like that for me sometime. I mean do you even read my Christmas list?”

Griffin looked at Rizavi in dismay.

“You’re making jokes?”

“The only joke here is that I thought I would come here and see James Griffin. Instead what I’ve found is this pathetic know it all that thinks he knows best so is whining like a little bitch but is too chickenshit to do anything,” She shot back. “You think this is a bad idea? Well then contact the boss and convince her to call this off or just leave and the rest of us will handle protection. Don’t hang round being all whiny and sulky just so you can say, ‘I told you so’.”

This response took Griffin by surprise.

“You’re really invested in this.”

“Like I said, it’s about time the boss got some action,” Rizavi replied. “So what are you going to do?”

Griffin thought for a moment.

“I’m going to stay,” He finally said. “I still have concerns but they’re not big enough to convince the boss to call it off and I am not going to abandon my team. That said I’ll keep my concerns to myself unless they become more substantial.”

Rizavi eyed Griffin suspiciously but finally nodded.

“Ok, I would rather have you here but today is a big day and I will not have you have you ruin this for me.”

“Ruin this for you?”

“I finally get to see the boss’s dating game,” Rizavi explained. “This is huge.”

Griffin rolled his eyes at that.

“There’s just one more thing,” Rivavi continued. “I think you should come clean to the boss about digging into Lance but that’s for you to decide. It crossed a line but I won’t tell the boss because that will make things a lot worse than what this warrants. However, you have to kneecap promise that you’re not going to do any more digging unless the boss asks us to.”

Griffin looked at Rizavi. He knew that keeping this quiet was a risk for Rizavi. The boss was not cruel or unreasonable but willfully keeping information like this from her was not going to do Rizavi any favours. She was taking a risk so that Griffin could come clean on his terms. He owed her a similar curtesy.  


“Alright, I kneecap promise.”

“And what happens if you break a kneecap promise?” Rizavi asked.

“You break one of my kneecaps.”

“That’s right, now the rest of the team will get here soon. I suppose you want to review the plan one more time.”

“Our boss is putting her life in our hands. Do you think I’m going to just review the plan once more?”

Rizavi smirked.

“There’s the James Griffin I know.”

* * *

Sunday came. Matt and Pidge were driving to the park. 

“Thank you for dropping me off,” Pidge said. “I didn’t want to risk leaving the car unattended in the park and it would look weird me having a driver.”

“No problem. Though isn’t it a bit early for Lance to already meet Bae Bae.” 

Matt looked in the review to check on Bae Bae who was sitting in the back seat.

“Having Bae Bae there gives us an excuse to stay out in the open, Lance isn’t going to suggest going somewhere that doesn’t allow dogs. Besides we don’t take Bae Bae to the park as much as we should.”

“That’s true,” Matt conceded. “Though if Bae Bae is meeting Lance, why can’t I?”

“You did already met him. Remember?”

“You’re not going to hold what happened between us at Yanko's against me, are you?”

“No but when I do allow you to meet him again I expect you to apologise. You acted like a jerk to him and unlike me, he doesn’t know why.”

“Fine, next I meet him I’ll apologise with him I’ll apologise in person.”

“I know you think I’m taking a risk,” Pidge said. “But I appreciate you being supportive.”

“You know, when most of the Accolti Family got killed in the purge, it seemed like the only available options were either hide and pray we never get found or make a deal with one of a bunch of equally disgusting devils. Instead, you said ‘I’m gonna build my own criminal organisation, with blackjack and hookers’.”

“Excellent use of a Futurama reference aside, I’m not sure what your point is.”

“The point is, that was you taking a risk. What you are doing now is at best you taking a chance. I’m going to worry because it’s my job as your older brother but I’m proud you are willing to try,” Matt said. 

“Thanks,” Pidge replied. “And who knows, maybe this will encourage you to find someone. It certainly can’t be worse than when you crashed and burned with Allura.”

“I didn’t crash and burn with Allura,” Matt replied indignantly. “She simply informed me that it would be unethical for her to date one of her clients.”

“Which only happened after her politely declining you asking her out for dinner or coffee a handful of times and then you sending three dozen red roses to her office.”

“Alright, point taken.”

“I mean you could have at least sent her irises. It wouldn’t have worked but it would have shown that you had bothered to do some digging into what she actually likes.”

“Alright!” Matt said irritably. “How about you focus on your own romantic endeavours instead of throwing my failed ones back in my face.”

They arrived at the park. More specifically they had arrived at the opposite of where she was going to meet Lance. It meant that she would have to walk through the park but it gave her time to prepare unseen and meant that Matt wouldn’t be tempted to glare at Lance or give him threatening gestures.

Pidge spoke into her earpiece. “Alright team, check-in.”

“Griffin here.”

“Kincade here.”

“Leifsdottir here.”

“Rizavi here.”

“Is the area secure?”

“As secure as we can be,” Griffin replied. “No hostiles detected but remaining vigilant.”

“Do you have eyes on the target?” Pidge asked.

“Target is at the rendezvous point,” Rizavi answered. “And looking damn fine.”

“Rizavi,” Pidge said in a warning tone, feeling oddly possessive.

“Hey, I’m just acknowledging beauty,” Rizavi replied. “Nothing wrong with window shopping so long as I don’t try to buy anything.”

“You’re window shopping in what may potentially be my own closet.”

“Well if you’re ever alright with lending me your jacket, let me know.”

Pidge took out the earpiece, partially because she wasn’t going to have it in for the date but also for her own sanity. She stepped out of the car to get the picnic basket from the trunk.

Matt meanwhile gave Bae Bae’s ear a scratch and whispered, “If Lance tries anything, bite him in the nads.”

Bae Bae clearly didn’t know what Matt was saying but as always loved the ear scratches.

Pidge opened the door to let Bae Bae out.

“Alright, we’re off,” Pidge said as she attached a lead to Bae Bae’s collar. “Wish me luck.”

“Come on Pidge, you’re a Holt,” Matt replied. “You don’t need luck.”

“You’re right,” Pidge said. “I share the same gene pool as you and dad. I’m gonna need a miracle.”

“Love you too sis.”

He watched Pidge and Bae Bae leave. Once he was sure Pidge was gone he took out his phone and dialed.

“It should be all clear, you’re good to go.” 


	7. The date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your patience. Hope you enjoy it ^^

Pidge walked through the park with an eager Bae Bae on the leash. She was far more nervous than she expected herself to be. To calm herself she tried one of her time honoured techniques and worked through the Fibonacci sequence. Often this worked to calm her but when she made it to 121393 in the sequence she realised now wouldn’t be one of those times. 

She was almost about to consider a tactical retreat when Lance came into view.

“Pidge!” Lance exclaimed. “Great to see you.”

Seeing Lance’s excitement to see her, Pidge felt encouraged to keep moving forward.

“Great to see you too,” she said as she closed the distance. 

“This must be Bae Bae.”

Lance crouched down and held out his hand. Pidge gave the leash some slack. Bae Bae curiously approached Lance and gave his hand a sniff. Her tail starting to wag excitedly as Lance start to give her ear a scratch. As Bae Bae started to jump up and try to give Lance’s face a lick, Pidge felt her nervousness melt away. 

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Lance said with a laugh as Bae Bae lay onto her back in hopes of getting belly rubs, which Lance all too happily gave.

Bae Bae then sniffed something. She immediately stood back up and looked Lance expectantly.

“That’s odd, she’s only like that if she thinks someone has a treat for her.”

Lance sheepishly reached into his pocket and pulled out a doggy treat.

“May I?” He asked.

“At this point it would be rude not to.”

Lance gave the treat to Bae Bae who happily took it.

“Were you honestly hoping to bribe my dog into liking you?” Pidge asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Bribe is such a dirty word, albeit an accurate one,” Lance admitted. “What can I say? I’m currently 0-1 when it comes to meeting your family so I wanted to improve my chances.”

“Matt doesn’t dislike you. He was just being a tad overprotective. Besides, that was before you almost took a bullet for me. That has to have earned you some points in his book.”

* * *

A supposed repair van was parked outside an apartment building. In front was a lanky guy with five o’clock shadow and a beanie alongside a lady with her long blonde hair tied in twin ponytails. A third person was in the back typing away on his laptop.

A call came through. 

“Rolo here,” the man in the beanie said when he answered it.

“It should be all clear,” Matt’s voice said on their other end. “You’re good to go.”

“On it,” Rolo replied before hanging up. “Nyma, Beezer, we just got the green light.”

Nyma nodded while Beezer gave a thumbs up. 

The three exited the van with their equipment and entered the building. They arrived at the designated apartment. Beezer checked to see if there was anything out of the ordinary broadcasting while Rolo used an endoscope camera to check under the door and see if there was anyone inside.

Once Rolo and Beezer gave the all clear they kept watch as Nyma picked the lock. Once the door was unlocked, Nyma took care to open it, checked for tripwires and alerts. Once the door was opened, the three stepped in and scanned the apartment. In their history of fact-finding missions, the three had gone to some truly fancy looking places. Places that the moment you set foot in them you were bombarded with evidence of how well off the resident was.

This apartment was not one of those places.

At all.

In fact it was pretty close to being the exact opposite.

“At least it’s tidy,” Nyma commented.

The three proceed to take pictures of every inch of the apartment, both as information gathering and to make sure that once they were done with their search they could put everything back exactly the way they had found it.

* * *

Pidge and Lance spent some time walking the park with Bae Bae until they found a nice open patch of grass where they could throw a ball Pidge had brought for Bae Bae to fetch. Meanwhile Lance was regalling Pidge with some of his more interesting workplace stories.

“So then the trash can is burning, the old man is threatening to bludgeon me with the dead raccoon if I don’t help find his cat, the cat turns out to have been dead for the last six years, the neighbour's dog breaks into the yard to try and steal the dead raccoon and after all that I didn’t even get a tip for delivering the pizza.”

“Wow,” Pidge said in amazement. “I’m starting to see why being a musician is what your career path. It’s less lucrative than your other jobs but it seems a lot less complicated.”

“Well yeah,

“And where do you see the road leading?” Pidge asked. “You planning on becoming the next pop icon?”

“I’m not opposed to the idea but that’s not why I’m doing it. I mean if I woke up one day with Ed Sheeran’s life I would not be complaining but as cliched as it sounds the main reason I want to be a musician is because I enjoy making music. My main dream would be to be able to sustain myself just with music.”

“That’s certainly a lot more realistic,” Pidge commended. “Plus if you had Ed Sheeran’s life you’d had to deal with being ginger. That’s honestly a fate worse than death.”

“I don’t get the hatred that red heads get,” Lance commented.

“They’re proof that life finds a way, even when sometimes it really shouldn’t,” Pidge said matter of factly. “So did you always want to be a musician?”

“Yes and no,” Lance admitted. “I loved playing music since I was young but I only really started pursuing it as a career path after I left the airforce.”

That took Pidge by surprise. 

“You were in the air force?”

“That I was,” Lance replied. “Let me guess, I’m not quite what you expect when you think ex-military.”

“Well...no. Not really,” Pidge admitted. “You were a pilot?”

Lance gave a hollow chuckle.

“I wish, that’s actually why I joined the airforce. I wanted to be a pilot and the air force seemed like the best way to make that happen.”

“Then what happened?”

Lance shrugged.

“What happened is the people in charge figured my skill set was less suited for a cockpit and more suited for a rifle. Eventually, I was placed in special reconnaissance.”

“Special reconnaissance?”

“Yeah, can’t go into specifics, most of it's classified,” Lance replied. “Not the fun, secretly toppled a dictator, type of classified. It’s the boring, divulging information could jeopardise other ongoing missions, type of classified.”

“Still kind of cool to be able to say you went on classified missions.”

“Yeah, it is kind of cool,” Lance admitted. “Still, I eventually realised my life wasn’t going in a direction I was happy with so once I had completed the mandatory service I left.”

“I’m sorry your dream to be a pilot didn’t work out.”

Lance shrugged. 

“I don’t regret my time in the air force but I don’t regret leaving when I did. The way I see it, you can either mourn a lost dream or celebrate it by chasing the next one twice as hard.”

That oddly made sense to Pidge.

“Though now that you know I’m ex-military, is it alright if I ask you something kinda blunt?”

“Er...sure.”

“Look Pidge, I know this is going to sound blunt but I noticed you don’t have your gun with you today and I was wondering if you left it at home for my sake.”

Pidge felt her heart rate suddenly spike.

“How did you know I have a gun?”

“You hide it well but I’ve gotten pretty good figuring out when someone is carrying a concealed weapon.”

“So the point is, I’m ok with you carrying a gun. I wouldn’t even have brought it up if I wasn’t worried you wear making yourself feel unsafe for my sake.”

The truth was Pidge felt completely safe with Lance and knew the MFE could deal with any outside threats. Though she had to remind herself that to Lance she was just a normal person who didn’t have four bodyguards ready to take down any threat.

“So guns don’t bother you?”

“Well, I do get bothered when a person points a gun at me or acts like an idiot but not by the idea of someone carrying one to protect themselves,” Lance explained. “Guns are like hammers, blunt instruments that have a specific use. Not going to start a debate on what that specific use should be but you carrying a weapon for protection isn’t going to make me lose sleep over it.”

“That’s good to know, thanks,” Pidge replied, feeling oddly relieved that she didn’t need to hide the fact she was armed. “So do you have a gun?”

“No, a lot of the jobs I work have strict not gun policies and I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving a gun at home since I couldn’t afford a gun safe to keep it secure.”

“That makes a lot of sense.”

“So what’s your view on guns?” Lance asked. “I mean you have one so I doubt you are anti-gun but you don’t strike me as someone who’s excessively pro gun either.”

Pidge shrugged.

“To me, they’re a necessary evil,” She answered. “Quite often a gun is the dumbest way to get something done but at the same time it’s really hard to match wits with a bullet between the eyes.”

“Fair enough, though maybe we should move onto another topic that’s a little less potentially politically charged.”

“Alright then, who do you think would win in a fight? Raka from Crystal Cove Adventure or Sarai from Emerald Blade 3?”

“I said less politically charged.”

“Come on, a vocal fan rivalry between the two franchises does not mean it’s politically charged,” Pidge counteracted. “It just means that some fans are just far too obsessed.

“Didn’t you spend an hour not too long ago explaining why the revamped combat mechanics in Emerald Blade 5 was a travesty?”

“The combat mechanics in Emerald Blade 4 was perfect. Why would you mess with perfection?!”

* * *

Matt’s phone rang. When he saw it was Rolo he picked up.

“Find anything?”

“Found a military uniform and some trinkets from his time in service but aside from that nothing of interest. If this guy is not on anyone's payroll, he’s certainly not spending it on his apartment. Did a full sweep, no weapons, contraband or anything questionable. Beezer can send you the full contents of the laptop we found but he hasn’t found anything interesting. Only cash we found was a jar of loose change that adds up to about 20 bucks. Furniture either looks second hand or picked up from the curb. Some musical instruments but nothing of real value. At worst this place is mildly depressing.”

“I see.”

“You sure you don’t want us to set up surveillance?”

Matt paused. Part of him really wanted to Lance under full surveillance but his rational side knew he eventually had to draw the line somewhere. Besides setting up surveillance ran the risk of surveilling Pidge as well. While Matt had no qualms about invading Lance’s privacy, he took respecting Pidge’s privacy very seriously. 

“No, just get Beezer to send me the contents of the lap and install a back door so I can access it in the future if need be.”

“You got it.”

* * *

Pidge, Lance and Bae Bae resumed their walk in the park when they came across the mini golf course. 

“Wanna give it a go?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know, it’s been years since I played.”

“Me too, still it could be fun to whack some balls around.”

Pidge eventually agreed. They found a spot to leave Bae Bae that was in the shade and well within view. 

They got their balls and clubs before heading to the first hole. 

Ever the gentlemen, Lance let Pidge go first. 

Pidge eyed up the hole, looked at it from several angles, lined up the shot and proceeded to get a hole in one.

“Thought you said you hadn’t played in years,” Lance said suspciously.

Pidge shrugged.

“I guess it’s like riding a bike.”

“Uh huh,” Lance replied, not entirely convinced.

“Anyway, it’s your turn.”

Five strokes later, not only was Lance no closer getting the ball in the hole, Pidge was pretty sure he was actually getting worse. After the 8th stroke caused the ball to go airbourne, she decided it was time to step in. She first adjusted Lance’s grip on the putter. She then stood in behind Lance and placed her hands over Lance’s.

“You need to stop slapping the ball, have a single smooth motion.”

She guided Lance through the motion, trying very hard to suppress how much she was enjoying the close proximity to Lance. 

“You know if this was a romantic comedy, we’d probably be doing this the other way round,” Lance commented.

“Well, learn to suck less at mini golf, then maybe next time we will.”

Lance gripped his chest in mock anguish.

“Ooooh, shot through the heart and you're to blame.”

“Yeah yeah,” Pidge replied with an eye roll. “I give love a bad name.”

* * *

Rolo, Nyma and Beezer had completed their search of the apartment and were doing the final checks to make sure that everything matched the photo’s they had taken before.

Satisfied the place looked exactly like it had before and that everything was packed up, the three finally left.

* * *

The time finally came for Lance and Pidge to call it a day. They walked to where Lance’s moped was parked.

“Sorry I can’t give you two a lift home,” Lance said, brutally aware that there was no safe way to give Pidge and Bae Bae a lift on the moped.”

“It’s all good, just heard from him that he'll be here shortly.” 

“Want me to wait with you?”

“No, you head on home, he’s honestly almost here.”

“Well alright then,” Lance relented.

Pidge was shocked when Lance pulled her in for a hug. Pidge felt time and reality lose all meaning as all that seemed to matter was the feeling of being held close by Lance.

All too soon, Lance pulled back from the hug.

“Thank you for an awesome time,” he said.

“Yeah...you too…” Pidge said dumbly. “Let’s do this again real soon.”

“Definitely. Later Pidge.”

Lance put on his helmet and gave Pidge a wink as he started the moped.

Pidge was still in a daze from the hug but managed to wave as Lance drove off.

* * *

“So did you have fun?” Matt asked after picking Pidge up.

“Yeah, it was wonderful.”

“I’m glad,” Matt said sincerely.

The drive continued in amicable silence and until something started to naw at the back of Pidge’s mind.

“Matt,” Pidge said cautiously. “You don’t hate Lance, do you?”

“Hate him? I barely know the guy.”

Pidge stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, so I know the guy on paper,” Matt amended. “I know enough to be mostly sure he isn’t a threat but I won’t know if I actually like the guy until I spend some time with him. Besides all the really matters is that he cleary seems make you happy.”

“Thanks,” Pidge replied. "He really does."

The two arrived back at the manor.

“Well I better go get ready to meet with the MFE for debrief.”

* * *

Pidge had finished the debrief with the MFE, and by finished she meant dismissed everyone when Rizavi offered to give feedback on Pidge's dating game. She was reviewing the agenda for the coming week when Kinkade walked in. 

“So boss, I have a confession to make. While you were on your date, there were some really adorable moments and my finger slipped a few times.”

“Slipped?”

Kinkade unlocked his phone and handed it over to Pidge. She looked at the gallery and saw that Kinkade had taken more than few photos of her time with Lance. As she scrolled through the various images of her having fun with Lance and Bae Bae, she felt a pleasent warm sensation in her chest, espcially when she stopped on an image of the hug Lance gave her.

“Kinkade, I don’t need to tell you what a risk creating physical evidence of any actions we take can be and you took these without my authority.”

“Understood Ma’am.”

“So while I make I transfer these photos over to my system, Rizavi is going to tell you off for your actions.”

Pidge called in Rizavi.

“Yes boss?”

“I need you to pretend to tear Kinkade a new one for the next five minutes.”

“Right away,” Rizavi turned to Kinkade. “How dare you crush little Sammys dream of being a second chair violinist. Yes he only knows how to play the oboe but how dare you? And to top it off you had the audacity to do whilst wearing a lilac cumberbund after labour day! HAVE YOU NO SHAME?!!”

As Rizavi started going on about how Polly’s introduction at the debutante ball had been ruined, Pidge transferred the images to her private file. Once done with the transfer, she slid the phone the back to Kinkade and mouthed the words “thank you”.

Kinkade responded with a subtle nod of the head and a faint smile as he continued to pretend to listen to Rizavi’s pretend chastisement.

* * *

Lance returned to his apartment with a spring in his step. The date with Pidge had gone wonderfully. Bae Bae was as adorable in real life as he had thought and she seemed to like him too. And the best part was that Pidge said she wanted to do this again real soon. It honestly couldn’t get much better than this.

He was still feeling a buzz from the day but as he looked around, something started to feel off. He couldn’t put his finger on it since everything looked like he had left and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling something was off.

Had those picture frames always been that close to the edge of the shelf?

His train of thought was interrupted by a message on his phone. Pidge had sent Lance a picture of Bae Bae with a sign that read “Thank you for such a great day”.

A big smile appeared on his face as he started to type a response. The previous feeling of unease completely forgotten. 


	8. That alley really sucks

It was Monday night and Lance was feeling pretty good as he arrived at Yanko’s to start his shift. Sure his shift at the coffee shop had been filled with the usual mix of boring moments, busy moments and regular unwarranted threats of violence from his co-worker but he still had the buzz from his successful date with Pidge so he didn’t mind.

As Lance hung up his jacket and bag he saw someone from the waitstaff he was not expecting.

“Carla? I thought you didn’t have a shift tonight.”

Carla looked equally perplexed to see Lance.

“The boss asked me to help cover your shifts.”

That answer confused Lance even more.

“Why would people need to cover my shifts?” Realisation suddenly dawned on him. “Oh no.”

Right on cue, Luiz Yanko, the owner of Yanko’s, walked up to Lance.

“Could we step into my office?” he asked.

* * *

Half an hour later, Lance left through the staff entrance with his jacket, bag and what equated to his severance package. 

Luiz had tried to be diplomatic about dismissing Lance. He didn’t blame Lance for what happened with the cartel members but the whole thing was drawing attention from law enforcement that some of the regular customers and some of the staff could not afford to have. Luiz decided it was best for everyone (excluding Lance of course) if the restaurant cut ties with everyone involved. He gave Lance two weeks’ worth of pay along with any tips Lance was owed and promised a glowing reference if Lance needed it.

Lance couldn’t decide what stung more, being fired for something that was in no way his fault or realising how little two weeks' worth of pay actually was. 

Still, it could be worse.

Lance found his path blocked by Detective Duncan, one of the police detectives that had interrogated him after being arrested. 

“Lance McClain, we’ve got to talk.”

At that moment Lance really wanted to put his head through a wall. He was really starting to hate this alley. Instead, he put on a neutral expression as he gave his reply.

“I have nothing to say without my lawyer present.”

“Then just listen, I know you had something to do with the killings. There is no way some waiter just happens to be the alley with three dead cartel members and yet afford such a fancy lawyer.”

“I have nothing to say without my lawyer present.”

Duncan got right up into Lance’s face.

“We accessed the call history of the cartel members. They had received a call from a manager that works for your restaurant. Only when we tried to get in touch with the manager it turns out he’s completely vanished off the face of the earth.”

That came as a genuine surprise to Lance but he said nothing.

“So anyone that could contradict your story is either dead or missing,” Duncan continued. “That’s an awfully big coincidence.”

“I have nothing to say without my lawyer present.” 

“Listen you piece of shit,” Duncan exclaimed, clearly getting angry. “Either you start giving me answers I’m gonna make life really difficult for you.”

“I have nothing to say without my lawyer present.”

Duncan then threw Lance against a wall.

“I swear to God, if you mention that bitch of a lawyer one more time you’re gonna be limping out of this alley.”

“Hey!”

Lance and Duncan turned to see Shiro standing.

“Let him go.”

Duncan pulled out his badge. “This is police business, back off.”

Unfazed, Shiro pulled out a badge of his own. 

“Special Agent Takashi Shirogane, FBI.” Shiro said. “I am going to tell you one more time. Let him go.”

Duncan, genuinely surprised, released his hold. 

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Watching some rogue cop threaten someone who is trying to exercise they’re right to an attorney.” 

“He is a suspect in a triple homicide with potential cartel ties.”

“Even if that is true he still has rights that you were stomping all over,” Shiro shot back. “I suggest you get out of here right now or else things are going to get bad for you really quickly.”

Duncan and Shiro stared at each other in a silent battle of wills. Eventually, Duncan relented first and left the alley but not before giving Lance a dirty look.

After a moment to make sure Duncan had left Shiro turned to Lance.

“You ok?”

“Oddly nostalgic for the time when the worst thing to encounter in this alley was the rats,” Lance answered. “Other than that I’m fine, though I should probably call my lawyer.”

“That’s a good idea though how about we go somewhere else to do that?”

Lance tilted his head quizzically. “Do you think that detective is gonna come back?”

“Possibly though right now I’m more concerned about those rats you mentioned.”

* * *

After coming to a nearby coffee shop, Shiro paid for two coffees while watching Lance talk on the phone. He came out as Lance hung up.

“All sorted?” He asked as he held out a cup.

“Yeah, I have an appointment to see Allura tomorrow,” Lance answered. “Does she have a way to get in touch with you if she has any questions?”

“She knows how to reach me,” Shiro answered. “Don’t worry about that Detective. Allura’s really good at what she does so she’ll be able to help sort this out.”

“Yeah, it’s just a good thing you’ve been following me. Things could have turned nasty if you hadn’t been there.”

There was a moment of awkward silence when both of them realised what Lance had said.

“I mean...it’s a good thing you were in the area.”

Another moment of awkward silence followed. 

“So when did you notice I’ve following you?” Shiro finally asked, not seeing the point in trying to deny it.

“About a week ago I saw you in the park where I was walking some dogs. I would have said hi but you were talking to some guy with a mullet,” Lance replied. “Though now it feels less of a coincidence that he turned up at the beauty salon where I work.”

“Iverson said you were perceptive,” Shiro commented, clearly sounding impressed.

That caught Lance’s attention.

“You know General Iverson?” Lance then clicked where he had heard the name Takashi Shirogane before. “You’re Golden Boy Shirogane. You still held every record in basic training.” 

“Just call me Shiro, I never liked that nickname. Besides, according to Iverson, a certain recruit claimed all my marksman records.”

“That doesn’t change the fact you’re a legend.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” Shiro warned. “Legends tend to be blown out of proportion.”

“Well considering you're actually not dead after having gone down in a blaze of glory taking out a hundred soviet fighter jets I’d agree your legend has been somewhat exaggerated.”

Shiro looked at Lance in dismay.

“People are saying I fought the soviet union? Just how old do they think I am?”

The way Lance refused to answer and instead take a sip from his coffee was telling. Shiro took the hint and instead took a sip from his own. After spending some time silently enjoying their coffee, Lance spoke up.

“Can I ask you a frank question? One former airman to another.”

“Sure.”

“Are there issues we need to address? I mean I’m sure you had a good reason for following me and I really don’t want to be 1-2 when it comes to Pidge’s family.”

“I’m not sure what ‘1-2’ means,” Shiro replied frankly. “I don’t have an issue with you and I hope this hasn’t created bad blood between us. It wasn’t personal, Pidge is pretty much family and I just wanted to follow due diligence.”

“That’s fair I guess,” Lance conceded. “We didn’t exactly have what you called a meet-cute.”

“The way Pidge tells it, it was incredibly brave what you did in that alley. Not every person would refuse to step aside when a gun was pointed at them. And Iverson had a lot of good things to say about you.”

“Really? I’m not sure Iverson particularly liked me.”

“Doesn’t stop him recognising talent and dedication,” Shiro replied. “And for the record, it’s not you, he’s like that with most people.”

Lance smirked. That certainly sounded like Iverson.

“Though can I ask a frank question?”

“Sure.”

“Why’d you leave the air force?” Shiro asked. “You had a commendable record and were impressing the right people. If you had stayed, you could have had a long and likely successful career. I can understand the disappointment of not being able to be a pilot but there were still a lot of options open to you.”

Lance shrugged. 

“I joined to be a pilot, that was my whole reason for joining,” he explained. “When that fell through I tried to make the best of it. But everything else felt like a consolation prize. Still, I gave it my all until eventually I realised this wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. So I walked away as soon as I was able. Yes I gave up a degree of certainty and consistency but at the end of the day I had to make the right call for me.”

Shiro nodded thoughtfully, that certainly made sense.

“Though now that I know you’re law enforcement and you’ve looked me up, can I take a moment to explain my criminal record.”

“Lance, you are going to be hard-pressed to find someone that would consider being late on paying a parking ticket as a criminal record.”

“I would have paid it on time but the ticket blew off the moped so I didn’t even know I had it until they sent me the second warning.”

“But if you don’t mind me asking, I am curious why left Yanko’s so early tonight?”

“I was fired,” Lance admitted.

“Fired? What for?”

“That whole thing with the triple homicide was drawing more scrutiny from law enforcement than what the boss thought the restaurant could afford,” when Lance remembered he was speaking with a federal agent he quickly added. “For what I’m sure are completely legal, non-suspicious reasons.”

Shiro looked at Lance with a raised eyebrow. “Really? They fire you and you’re still covering for them.”

Lance shrugged. “He’s just trying to protect customers and employees that have been with the restaurant longer than I have. I don’t like it but I understand it.”

“That is a remarkably mature attitude.”

“Well he did give me two weeks pay as a severance package. The most I got from the last place that fired me was five minutes to get off the property. And the reason they fired me was because the boss’s wife stole money from the till and tried to blame it on me. So yeah I have a bit more good will for Yanko’s than what you’d expect. Plus someone left me a $100 tip so that also helps.”

“That was Matt.”

“Pidge’s brother? Really?”

“He felt bad about getting you kicked off of serving tables and wanted to make up for what you lost in tips.”

“Wow,” Lance said, not completely sure how to process that fact. “I’ll need to thank him next time I see him.”

Another moment of silence passed before Shiro thought of a way to break it.

“Wanna go blow off some steam?”

* * *

Shiro took Lance to a shooting range that also loaned out guns and ammunition. What followed was amicable silence as the two unloaded rounds into their paper targets. When they used up their current clips, Lance decided to ask something that was on his mind. 

“So is mullet boy a fed too? Cause there is no way that hair complies with bureau regulations.”

“No, he was just doing me a favour,” Shiro explained. “I wasn’t going to use company resources to track you, that would be irresponsible and risk opening a serious can of worms.” 

“Good to know that the utility truck outside my place is actually just a utility truck.”

They pressed the buttons to bring in the targets for inspection. Both had decent grouping in the center mass of the targets though Shiro had a tighter grouping. 

“Not bad,” Shiro commented. “Though is there a reason you were shooting right handed when I’ve seen you use a pen enough times to be certain you’re left handed?”

Lance smiled sheepishly. 

“Well I noticed you shooting left handed even though I’m pretty sure you're right handed so I figured shooting with our off hands was what we were doing here.”

Shiro, once again impressed at Lance’s perceptiveness, replied with a shrug.

“My right hand isn’t as steady as it used to be so I trained myself to shoot with my left.” Shiro explained.

He proceeded to put up a fresh target and reloaded Lance’s gun.

“I’ve shown you my best,” he said as he held out the freshly loaded gun to Lance. “Let’s see yours.”

Lance looked down at the gun and back up at Shiro.

“Is that a challenge?” Lance asked. “I thought we were just letting off steam.”

“We are,” Shiro replied. “It’s just Iversen told me you were the best shot he ever saw in the air force and I’m curious to see if that was still true.”

Lance’s eyebrow raised as he took the gun. “Iversen said that?”

“Well, not those words but that was certainly his meaning.”

That certainly sounded more like Iversen. Lance pressed the button to move the target back into position. Once it was set, Lance lined up his shot and pulled the trigger repeatedly until the gun was empty. 

Lance put the gun back down and pressed the button to pull forward the target. Shiro let out an approving whistle when he saw the shots all hit center mass with a grouping so tight it almost looked like one big hole.

“I can see why you were called the sharpshooter,” He commented.

“Truth is I gave myself that name,” Lance admitted. “I had a bit of an ego back then.”

“It’s not ego if you can back it up.”

“Thanks but I had plenty of regular ego too.”

* * *

Shiro dropped Lance off at his building.

“Thanks for the lift and the chance to let off steam,” Lance said. “This was unexpected but ended up being fun.”

“It was,” Shiro replied. “We should do it again some time.”

“Definitely,” Lance agreed. “Minus the whole cop threatening me thing.”

As Lance stepped out of the car, Shiro finally said something that had been on his mind.

“Do you regret leaving?”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you regret leaving the air force?” Shiro clarified. “At the risk of sounding blunt you haven’t exactly had the easiest post service life.”

Lance pondered for a moment. “Not really, for the most part I’m happy. Sure I have challenges but I’d rather focus on the good things that have come from it. For instance, I never would have met Pidge if I was still in the air force.”

“That is true.”

“Besides, I don’t see the point in dwelling on the past. What’s more important is the now and the next step forward.”

Lance said goodbye and walked off.

Shiro watched him and pondered his words. Unlike Lance, Shiro’s departure from the air force had not been entirely voluntary but he could see the wisdom in what Lance was saying. It was potentially something to think on. 

That however would have to wait for a later date as Shiro messaged Pidge and Matt, telling them that there was an urgent issue to discuss.

* * *

When Shiro arrived back at the manor explained to Pidge and Matt what had happened with Detective Duncan in the alley. Pidge felt herself going through a whole cascade of emotions. She was irked to hear Shiro was following Lance, thankful that he had been there to step in, nervous that the police had linked the manager to the cartel and angry that the detective had tried to physically threaten Lance. 

Part of her wanted to demand how this had happened but the truth was she already knew. Pidge and crew tend to be faster than law enforcement when it comes to gathering information thanks to skill, well placed connections and not being tied down by trivial things such as warrants, due process and civil liberties. However, getting the information first didn’t mean feds or cops wouldn’t get there eventually. It was why Pidge placed so much importance on being able to cover their tracks as well as possible. The only problem was that they had done such a good job leaving the cops grasping at straws that Lance had ended up the last straw for them to grasp at.

"So what should we do?" Shiro asked.

Pidge paused thoughtfully before finally saying "we could kill him."

Shiro purses his lips before speaking.

"I'm going to assume you're joking because as a way to protect us it's short-sighted and as a way to get back at him for threatening Lance, it's slightly psychotic."

Pidge let out a huff, she was fully aware of how immature she looked but at that moment she couldn't bring herself to care

“I think the best thing, for now, is to leave this for Allura to handle,” Matt suggested. “The law right now is on Lance’s side. He honestly has no idea what’s going on, had nothing to do with any of this and right now is being needlessly harassed by the police. Allura eats jerks like this for breakfast. If they keep focusing their attention on Lance they will fall to Hurricane Altea. And please don’t hate me for saying this, their focus on Lance means there’s a good chance that this investigation will lose steam before they even get close to implicating us.”

A part of Pidge did hate Matt for saying that but a bigger part hated that what Matt was saying made the most sense. 

“Fine but I want eyes on this detective and his partner,” She finally said. “We need to find out what they are up to and make sure we stay ahead of their investigation.”

What Pidge would have liked to do was get people watching Lance to make sure he doesn’t get jumped again but there was no way to do that without reading more people in and that was not something she was ready for. So keeping an eye on the detectives would have to do. 

“Ok then, keep me posted.”

That was a clear dismissal so Shiro and Matt started to leave. Shiro stopped when he noticed Pidge was hard in thought about something.

"Something else on your mind?" he asked.

“Shiro, do you think we can get in touch with the boss of Yanko’s and convince him to take Lance back on?”

“As your adviser, I think that’s a bad idea because we need to create distance between us and Yanko’s. As your friend, I think that trying to step in and use your authority to solve Lance’s problems is a slippery slope.”

“But this is a problem that I created for him.”

“I’m not going to debate causality with you,” Shiro replied. “I’m just going to remind you that favours from Katherine Acculti Holt can have unforeseen consequences.”

Pidge pursed her lips, having no real response to give because she knew Shiro was right. Favours had a bad habit of carrying strings, even when she was the one granting them. 

“So what do I do?”

“That’s for you to decide,” Shiro replied. “But if it was me, I’d try to find out what Lance needs rather than just making assumptions on what he needs. The best way to do that is to listen”

* * *

Shiro left Pidge to mull over what he had said. He found Matt skimming over his tablet.

“Noone’s accessed your FBI file yet but I’ll keep a close eye on it,” Matt explained.

Shiro’s status as a Federal Agent was complicated. The badge was real and had been issued to him because the federal systems had him listed as a special agent. It’s the way that he had gotten onto the federal systems that was less conventional. Pidge and Matt had hacked the system and added Shiro’s file. His name would show and verify that he was an agent but attempts to get specific details of his history in the Bureau would hit walls upon walls of bureaucracy and “need to know”. Apparently, Special Agent Shirogane does a lot of “Undercover Work”.

As covers go it was good enough that most ground-level and intermediate law enforcement wouldn’t pierce it but if someone with high enough clearance pulled too hard on that digital thread, it would all come undone so Shiro used the badge sparingly and the Holt siblings had put a program into the system that told them if anyone tried to access Shiro’s file.

“So are you still going to keep following Lance?”

“No,” Shiro admitted. “I’ve already told Keith that we’re stopping. There’s nothing more I can learn from following him and frankly there are better uses for my time.”

“So you're certain he’s not a threat.”

“I wouldn’t want him pointing a gun at me but I don’t think he’s a threat,” Shiro replied. “And if I’m honest, I'm starting to like the guy. How about you?”

“I’ve knocked over every stone I could think of and fully picked apart his life, I found nothing that could paint him as a threat,” Matt said. “I think I’m well past the point of due diligence as a brother or as a part of this organisation and now just actively trying to find a reason why Pidge should stay away from him and that’s not fair to anyone.” 

“That’s true.”

“So what happens now?” 

“That’s up to Pidge,” Shiro answered. “We’ll be there if she needs us we’ve got to leave her to make her own decisions on this.”

“You’re right,” Matt conceded. “Though you know what sucks?”

“What?”

“Pidge wasn't even looking and she's on the verge of having a more successful love life than I am. I mean, am I doing something wrong?”

Shiro put a comforting hand on Matt’s shoulder.

“Quite possibly.”

* * *

After some deliberation, Pidge picked up the phone and rang Lance. 

“Hey Pidge, how’s it going?”

“I’m good. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing alright,” Lance replied.

“Shiro told me you got fired. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks but honestly I’m fairly ok with it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it sucks why I got fired but it was just a job. I can always find another one to fill the gap and at least now I no longer have to deal with customers wanting to know why we don’t offer Souvlaki on the menu.”

“That’s a thing that happens?” Pidge asked.

“Far more often than it rightfully should,” Lance replied dryly. 

“So....you’re doing ok?”

“I am,” Lance said. “An added bonus is that I now have Wednesday night free this week if you were interested in getting together to do something.” 

Pidge so badly wanted to say yes. 

“Would love to but I have my monthly D&D night with friends.”

D&D night was a monthly tradition that was simultaneously the dumbest and most awesome out of her various attempts at finding some shred of normality since becoming a crime boss. She had never missed a night since it’s formation and that included the time she was recovering from a bullet wound. 

“Cool, what class do you play as?” 

“Er...Fighter or Barbarian mostly.”

“Really? I would have pictured you more wizard or sorcerer, maybe a cleric.”

“Nah, we already have a cleric in the party and I find fighters surprisingly satisfying,” Pidge replied. “Do you play?”

“Did a bit in high school but haven’t been able to find a group since graduating,” Lance admitted.

“Would…would you be interested in joining us?” Pidge asked, not wanting to sound overly hopeful.

“That all depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether there was room on your party for a rogue.”


	9. A noble quest and a great reward

Allura was in her office reviewing case files when there was buzz on the intercom. 

“There is a Mr. McClain here to see you,” Romelle said on the other end.

Allura packed away the case files before telling Romelle to send him in. 

“Hello there Ms Altea,” Lance said. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“No need to be so formal, Allura is fine.”

“Alright then, just so long as you call me Lance.”

“Seems fair,” Allura replied as she took out a notepad. “Now explain to me what happened in as much detail as you remember.”

Lance layout the whole confrontation with the detective in the alley, making extra sure he did not leave any detail out, including why he had left Yanko’s earlier than expected.

“I promise I will take care of this,” Allura assured Lance after he finished explaining what had happened. “This has clearly crossed the line in harassment. This can not stand.”

“Whatever you can do to put an end to this I’d really appreciate it.”

“Though there is also the matter of Yanko’s.”

“What about it?”

“Well I just wanted to know whether you wanted to take any action against them?” Allura clarified. “There’s a fairly decent argument to be made that you were unfairly dismissed. If you were wanting to pursue legal action, there’s a strong chance we may be able to reach a settlement.”

“Oh,” Lance said, having honestly not considered taking legal action. He pondered for a moment before saying. “No, Yanko’s isn’t a big place, a settlement could cause it to go under or at least have to let off some staff. I’m not happy I was laid off but I’m not ready to make other people lose their job for no good reason.”

Allura found a faint smile forming. Pidge had certainly found herself an honourable man. She just hoped being honourable didn’t prevent Lance from having enough to live on but that wasn’t really her place to question.

“Very well, I’ll focus my energy on getting the police to back off,” Allura replied.

“That would be great, though are you ok with doing all this? I’m still not in a position to be able to pay you.”

“It’s called pro bono, Mr McClain,” Allura answered. “That is something Lawyers are capable of doing. On the record, this is good PR helping someone who might not otherwise be able to help someone who might not otherwise be able to afford competent legal representation. Off the record, this is me helping someone who helped out a close friend of mine.”

“That makes sense I guess, though doesn’t my relationship with Pidge create a conflict of interest?”

“You leave me to worry about potential conflicts of interest and issues. You just keep me apprised of any further confrontations.”

“Understood.”

“Though speaking of Pidge, how are things going with her?”

Lance looked at Allura with a raised eyebrow.

“I can’t decide what’s weirder, you asking that as my lawyer or as Pidge’s friend.”

“It’s only weird if you make it weird.”

That was certainly not a phrase he expected to hear from his lawyer.

“Things are going well I think,” Lance replied. “We’re taking it one step at a time. She’s amazing and I love spending time with her.”

“I’m sure she loves spending time with you as well,” Allura replied.

* * *

“So we’re giving up on trailing the guy?” Keith asked over the phone.

“Yes, it’s pretty clear he’s not a threat,” Shiro answered. “Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime.”

“If you were wanting some more work, I do have a few more jobs that could use some extra manpower, if you promised to play nice and not do anything to escalate the situation.”

“Shiro, that last time wasn’t my fault.”

“You stabbed that baker in the leg.”

“He pulled a gun on me.”

“Which you then took and threatened to shoot him with.”

“What’s the big deal? Your boss managed to smooth things over and got a new business partner out of it.”

“The big deal is we went into that bakery to get information, not to end up buying the whole bakery.”

“Point taken,” Keith replied. “Anyway, Kosmo’s been missing me so I’m going to give him some extra attention for the next few days.”

“Fair enough, talk soon.” 

Shiro walked into Pidge’s office and saw her talking to a burly man with sideburns so large they could only be called mutton chops. 

“And that is why I believe these businesses could be a real boon to the syndicate.”

“Thank you, Prorok,” Pidge said as she idly looked through the dossier that was in front of her. “I shall examine these and let you know how I want to proceed.”

“Of course, Ms Holt, as always I trust your judgement,” Prorok noticed Shiro standing there. “Hello there, Shirogane. So good to see you back from your unexplained absence. People were starting to wonder where you had run off to. Some even feel you were shirking your duties.”

“There were matters that needed attending,” Shiro replied.

“Well if Ms Holt would like someone dependable to provide security for her meeting tonight, I’m happy to oblige.”

Shiro resisted rolling his eyes. Jacopo Prorok was both an interesting and somewhat irritating creature within the Holt Syndicate. He had been a part of the Accolti Family before the purge but not a particularly high ranking member which is why he managed to survive the purge. 

He had played a role in helping the Holts salvage what remained of Accolti resources. He had his uses but he was prone to vice, frustratingly old fashioned and had ambition far greater than what his ability could match. It was no secret that he wanted Shiro’s position within the organisation but rather than being remotely threatened by this fact Shiro just found Prorok to be a colossal bore. 

“That won’t be necessary,” Pidge replied. “But thank you, your commitment to my safety is noted. Good Night Prorok.”

Clearly disappointed by the dismissal but trying not to show it, Prorok instead gave a quick bow and said “Good Night Ms Holt” before leaving.

Pidge checked the camera feed to watch Prorok leaving. Once she was certain he was well out of earshot she gave a sigh of relief.

“Finally,” Pidge exclaimed. “I thought he’d never leave.”

“So what did he want?”

“He was proposing some potential businesses to help launder our finances.”

“Did we need more businesses?”

“No but he clearly wanted to show some initiative to impress me,” she replied as she picked up the dossier Prorok had given her and placed it on the “to do” pile. “We’ll get the finance team to look through this, if any of these aren’t completely horrendous, we’ll throw Prorok a bone and put him in charge of acquiring one of them. Maybe that’ll get him to tone down the ass-kissing for at least a little while.”

“Do you want him in charge of an acquisition?” Shiro asked.

“We’ll make sure he’s supervised,” she assured him. “We just need to convince him that he's the one in charge of the acquisition so that he can feel like a big boy.”

“And if none of his suggestions are viable?”

“Then maybe we can find some way to convince him that the bakery we bought was his idea.”

“Fair enough,” Shiro conceded. “So all set for tonight?”

“Yep, just need to sign off on a few things then we’ll head to the safe house to change.”

There was a knock at the door. Pidge checked the camera and saw it was Griffin. She called out for him to enter.

“Ms Holt, I have something to confess.”

That certainly got Pidge and Shiro’s attention.

“Go on.”

“I ran a background check on Lance before your date with him,” Griffin said. “I had found out he had been with you in the alley when you were ambushed so I did some digging into him.”

Pidge stared at Griffin. This confession managed to be simultaneously better and worse than what she had been expecting.

There was a tense moment where no one spoke. Finally, Pidge broke the silence.

“Have you shared your findings with anyone?”

“No Ma’am,” Griffin answered. “I also haven’t told anyone about your connection.”

“Good. Make sure it stays that way.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Griffin replied. “Did you want me to step down from the MFE?”

Pidge gave another thoughtful pause.

“No,” She finally said. “We use the MFEs as a complete unit because you four at far more effective together than seperate. Making the MFE less effective at their job would mean I was hurting or endangering myself just to teach you a lesson, which would be stupid. So for now you are still a part of the MFEs.”

“Thank you Ma’am,” Griffin said, clearly relieved.

“But don’t for a second think that this makes what you did alright,” Pidge warned. “If Lance faces any negative consequences from your actions, the consequences that rain down on you will be ten fold. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Good. Dismissed.”

Griffin left.

“You were far more lenient about this than I would have thought,” Shiro commented.

“That’s because punishing Griffin for looking into Lance would be hypocritical considering both You and Matt fully dissected Lance’s life,” Pidge replied flatly. “But this is where I’m drawing the line because I am sick of people invading Lance’s privacy for no good reason. He has done nothing to warrant this treatment. Lance is not a threat so you all need to stop treating him like one otherwise I’m going to start tazing people until my point comes a cross. ”

Shiro grimaced. “Understood.”

“Good, so let's finish up so we can get to games night.”

* * *

Pidge and Shiro had arrived at Coran’s apartment. Everyone was wearing casual, comfortable clothing and got settled in as they waited for the final person to arrive. 

There was a knock at the door, Pidge answered it to reveal Lance.

“Glad you made it!” She said. 

“Glad to be here,” he replied. “I had brought some chips to share but the security guard in the lobby confiscated them.”

“Oh dear, Douglas’s wife is not going to be happy when she finds out that he’s cheating on his diet again,” Coran walked up to Lance and held out a hand. “Coran Smythe, pleasure to meet you.”

“Lance McClain,” Lances said as he shook Coran’s hand. “Thank you for having me.”

“Any friend of Pidge is more than welcome here,” Coran replied. “Though I must warn you, under my roof there are three rules that must never be broken. You do not talk about work, you do not talk about politics and you do not talk about Fight Club. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Wonderful,” Coran said as he gave Lance a hearty slap on the back. “Get settled in and we’ll start shortly.”

Lance looked slightly confused as he watched Coran walk off.

“Don’t worry, he’s like that with everyone,” Pidge assured him. 

“Fair enough,” Lance said before he turned to the others. “Hello Shiro. Hello Allura. Hello...Hunk?!”

Much to Lance’s surprise, Hunk was standing there with a tray of snack food.

“Lance?! What a surprise,” Hunk exclaimed as he put down the tray.

Surprise was a bit of a white lie. Pidge had warned Hunk that Lance had been invited to games night to give him the chance to cancel. In the end Hunk decided that knowledge of his friendship with Pidge would come out eventually so better they get it out of the way early and deal with it early so it didn’t become a bigger deal later. 

“Absolutely,” Lance replied. “What a small world.”

“You know each other?” Coran asked.

“Hunk here helped me out when my moped broke help,” Lance explained. “I would have been in deep trouble if Hunk hadn’t been in the area.”

“Yes, it was a good thing I happened to be in the area...by pure coincidence.” Hunk replied nervously. 

“Still, I had no idea you knew Pidge,” Lance said.

“As you said, small world,” Hunk replied.

Coran and Shiro looked on suspiciously but both chose to say nothing. Lance’s attention meanwhile was pulled away from Hunk towards a strange looking helmet in a glass case.

“No way! Is that a replica of Captain McAwesome’s helmet?” Lance exclaimed as he pressed his face against the glass case to get a better look.

“Good eye,” Coran said with a chuckle. “But that’s not a replica, that’s the actual helmet I wore on the show.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. “No way, you’re that Coran Smythe?”

“Indeed I am.”

“Hold up,” Pidge said. “What are you talking about?”

“‘Captain McAwesome’s Voyage through the stars’ was this fantastic New Zealand made sci-fi show,” Lance explained. “It’s about this space colony called New Aotearoa, on a mission to explore new systems and eventually find a new planet to settle on. Its greatest defender and keeper of the peace? Captain Montague McAwesome, a former rogue turned galactic hero, alongside his team of legendary defenders.”

“Ah, yes.” Coran said wistfully. “It was my greatest role. Though how do you know about it? As far as I knew it never got released outside of New Zealand.”

“Back when I was with the airforce we did some training with the New Zealand Defence Force. I met some guys who were serious Captain McAwesome fans so they gave me digital copies of the entire series.”

“How come this was the first I’ve heard of this?” Hunk asked.

“It was a long time ago,” Coran replied. “My career in acting ended when I decided to leave New Zealand and eventually found my true purpose as a lawyer.”

“Did you find that purpose before or after that year you spent voicing a muppet?” Lance asked. 

“Times a wastin,” Coran suddenly declared. “A grand quest awaits.”

Everyone else rolled their eyes at the blatant attempt at changing the subject. Still, they had all come for a quest so there were no objections. Everyone sat down around the table and pulled out their character sheets. After everyone introduced their characters, Coran took his place as dungeon master and started the adventure.

“Our adventure begins in a tavern, sitting on the edge of the kingdom of Darby. Beyond its border is a strange and perilous land, filled with great danger but also great reward for those brave enough to seek it…” 

* * *

“Wow, the boss was certainly more chill about it than I would have expected,” Rizavi commented. 

The MFEs were at Rizavi’s place, playing pool whilst sharing beer and take out. Despite working together all day, the four always made it a point to have at least a few off the clock get-togethers when it was just the four of them. Aside from building team cohesion, it was also one of the few places they could discuss work without it being a security risk.

Which brought them to their current discussion. After coming clean to the boss, Griffin figured it was only fair that Kinkade and Leifsdottir be brought up to speed.

“To be fair, what Griffin did was a dick move but not a serious act of insubordination,” Kinkade said as he lined up a shot. “Besides, anyone who knows him, knows he only does stuff like this because he cares.”

“Does this mean I should admit to the boss that I have made some observations about Lance as well?” Leifsdottir asked.

“Making observations about Lance based on what you see whilst on a job is not the same as actively investigating him,” Griffin explained.

“So what did you find?” Rizavi asked.

“Excuse me?”

“You told me you had concerns, which means you found something,” Rizavi clarified. “So spill? What did you find?”

“Seriously?” Griffin looked at Rizavi in dismay. “You were ready to tear me a new one when I said I had dug into Lance and now you want to know what I found?”

Rizavi shrugged.

“The problem had been that you had gone behind the boss’s back to do said digging. Now that it’s all in the open and the boss is ok with what you did, I’m too much of a gossip to not want any and all juicy details you found.”

“Plus as the boss’s protective detail, we need to be aware of any potential threats in order to keep her safe,” Kinkade added helpfully.

“Yeah yeah, that too,” Rizavi said dismissively. “So what dirt did you find? Gambling debt? Former drug addiction? Secretly got married whilst drunk in Vegas?”

“I found nothing,” Griffin finally said.

“What?”

“I found no criminal record, no criminal connections, a service record with no major misdemeanors and no connection to any law enforcement. There is nothing to suggest he’s anything but a regular law abiding citizen. 

“Okay, I’m not seeing it,” Rizavi finally. “How is Lance being a normal law-abiding citizen a problem?”

“Because the boss isn’t one,” Griffin answered. “If this becomes serious, the boss will either need to put more and more effort into maintaining the lie or she is going have to bring Lance into her world. How exactly is someone who has lived their life as a good guy going to react?”

Rizavi took the moment to process this before she shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

“Really? That’s your response? Wait and see?”

“You make a good point that I don’t really have an answer for but all of this is the boss’s choice to make so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

“I guess so,” Griffin conceded.

“So while you were digging into him, did you get an answer on whether Lance has any cute siblings or cousins?”

“No Rizavi.”

“No he doesn’t have any or no you didn’t check?”

* * *

“Alright, let’s take a break,” Coran announced.

“Sounds good,” Hunk announced. “I’ll go prepare the nachos.”

“Hey, where’s the bathroom?” Lance asked.

“Down the hall and to the right,” Coran replied.

At that the table dispersed. Shiro went to brew some coffee and lend Hunk a hand, Allura went to the balcony to get some fresh air, leaving Pidge and Coran at the table.

“So Lance seems like a good guy,” Coran commented.

“He is,” Pidge agreed.

“Just make sure you do right by him.”

Pidge was about to asked what he meant but before she could, Shiro came out with coffee.

* * *

As Lance stepped out of the bathroom his phone rang. 

“Hello?”

“Hi Lance, it’s Luiz Yanko.”

“What’s up.”

“I felt bad about how things ended so I got in touch with a friend of mine who’s looking to hire new waitstaff. Would you be free to stop by Yanko’s tomorrow to meet them?”

Lance pursed his lips, he wasn’t exactly eager for another waiter position. Still, he wasn’t exactly in a place to be overly picky and it couldn’t hurt to meet with them.

“Sure, what time?”

* * *

Finally it was time to call it a night. The quest had been a success, the monster had been slain and great rewards were found by all. What followed was some coffee and idle chatting to wind down. 

“Alright, I better get going,” Lance finally said as he stood up.

“I’ll walk you to the elevator,” Pidge offered.

Lance said his final goodbyes before he and Pidge walked down the hall to the elevator. As they waited for the elevator to come up Pidge turned to Lance.

“Thank you for coming,” she said.

“Thank you for having me,” he replied. 

As the doors opened, he stepped into the elevator.

“Good Night Pidge.”

“Good Night Lance.”

Lance then bent forward and gave Pidge a quick kiss on the cheek.

Pidge stood there stunned as the doors closed.

* * *

Lance stood there awkwardly watching the floor numbers as the elevator went down.

He hoped he hadn’t been too forward with Pidge. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable by doing something she wasn’t ready for. It had been a spur of the moment thing that felt right at the time but now that the moment had passed doubt was starting to set in.

The elevator stopped and with a ding the doors opened to reveal Pidge standing there, panting slightly.

“Pidge?!” Lance checked the floor number. “Did you just run down five flights stairs?”

Instead of replying, Pidge grabbed Lance by his shirt. She pulled him forward and then kissed him full on the mouth. 

His eyes went wide with shock but then closed as he melted into the kiss.

Finally the two separated for air. They stared at each other in a daze until Pidge finally broke the silence.

“That is how you kiss someone good night.”

“Right,” Lance replied as he watched her push the button on the elevator to go back up. “I’ll have to remember that.”

“If not I’ll be sure to remind you,” She said with a wink as the doors closed.

* * *

As Pidge rode the elevator back up to Coran’s floor she tried her best to wipe the dumb grin off her face. Which was particularly hard cause she felt like she was walking on air. She believed she had it under control for the most part when she arrived back at Coran’s apartment.

“You certainly took your time,” Allura said with a cheeky grin.

“I just wanted to make sure I gave Lance a proper goodbye,” Pidge replied in an attempt to feign innocence.

“Oh, I bet you did.”

“Pidge, I just got off the phone with Doug,” Coran said. “Is there any particular reason Lance is doing a victory dance in the lobby?”

“He...must just have been really stoked having finally met Captain McAwesome himself.”

Coran paused and stroked his moustache thoughtfully. “It certainly isn’t everyday you meet a celebrity, I will grant you that.”

Both Pidge and Allura meanwhile were trying, and failing, to keep a straight face.

* * *

The next morning. Matt and Shiro were having breakfast together.

“So how was games night?” Matt asked.

“It was good,” Shiro replied. “Coran had come up with a great quest and having a rogue added to the party helped mix things up a bit.”

“Cool,” Matt took another bite of breakfast before realisation hit. “Wait a minute, you guys almost never change roles. So who was the rogue?”

In that moment Shiro came to the conclusion he had possibly said too much.

* * *

Pidge was at her computer when Matt came stomping in.

“LANCE WAS INVITED TO GAMES NIGHT?!”

Pidge resisted the urge to groan. Sure she was still in a really good mood after last night but why did this stuff always happen before she had a chance to finish her third cup of coffee?

“Good morning to you too.”

“Pidge!”

“Yes Lance came to games night,” Pidge replied. “It wasn’t some big secret. It happened kinda last minute and it didn’t come up in conversation so I forgot to tell you.”

“So it’s fine that Shiro and your friends hang out with Lance but not me?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. 

“Matt, I would have been perfectly happy for you to be there as well. You’re the one who doesn’t take part in games night because you think it’s good we have some interests we do separately and because you don’t particularly like tabletop games or rpgs for that matter.”

“Well forgive me for preferring first person shooters and real time strategy.”

“Believe me, I’ve spent years trying to forgive that.”

“Pidge, I want to meet Lance properly.”

“Alright then,” 

That took Matt by surprise.

“Really?”

“What happened at Yanko’s aside, you have been incredibly understanding and supportive of all this,” Pidge conceded. “It’s only fair I give you a chance to properly meet Lance and get to know him first hand.”

“Oh,” Matt had honestly expected more of an objection. “Great.”

“Just know that if you do anything to chase Lance off, I will make it my life’s mission to ruin any and all chances of you finding love,” Pidge warned. “You will die sad and alone with only a dozen cats to keep you company.”

“But I’m allergic to cats.”

“Exactly.”

* * *

The next day Lance arrived at Yanko’s, it was an hour before most staff would be expected to arrive. He knocked on the door. Moments later, Luiz opened the door.

“Glad you could make it,” He said.

“Nice of you to get me a job interview,” Lance commented, as he looked in he noticed that there was no one else here. “So where are they?”

“Out the back, I’ll take you to them.”

That seemed odd and combined with how nervous Luiz’s smile looked and the slight tremor in the hand that was holding the door open, alarm bells were going off in Lance’s head..

“Actually, I just realised I have somewhere else I need to be,” Lance said. “Thanks for the offer though.”

As he was about to turn, he felt a gun being pressed into his back.

“We insist,” The figure holding the gun said.

Lance briefly sent Luiz a dirty look as he let himself be led out the back into the alley, where a lady and man were waiting.

“You must be Lance McClain,” the lady said. “Thank you for coming.”

Despite the situation, Lance knew the best thing to do was remain calm so he said the first thing that came to mind.

“I take it there’s no job offer.”

“Sorry for the deception,” she replied. “I figured this would be the least confrontational way to have a word and this seemed like an appropriate place to have a talk.”

“Yes,” Lance said dryly. “Because nothing says non-confrontational than being led into an alley at gunpoint.”

“You make a good point,” the lady gestured to the man standing behind Lance, moment’s later Lance didn’t feel the gun pressed against his back anymore. “I’d rather this be a civil affair. My name is Daniela, I would like to have a word with you regarding my brother.”

“And your brother is?”

“I doubt you knew his name but I have it on good authority you were the one to see him right before he was gunned down in this alley.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your patience. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and promise the next chapter will be up much sooner


	10. Confrontations

Lance stared at Daniela.

“He was your brother?”

“Yes he was,” Daniela replied. “I was hoping to get your account of what happened.”

“Look, I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about an active police investigation. They’ve been following me around so if they see me talking to you I could get into serious trouble,” Lance replied. “For all we know they could be watching us right now.”

Lance highly doubted the police were watching him but he hoped the bluff was enough to get these three a little bit more hesitant.

“Interesting,” Daniela said thoughtfully. “Let’s test that theory.”

Daniela punched Lance in the gut, as he doubled over she droved her knee into the side of his face. He fell to the ground in a daze and before he could put his guard up, she started kicking him.

Finally, she stopped and bent down to Lance’s prone form.

“If there had been any police watching use they would have been obliged to step in and stop me attacking you,” Daniela explained. “Now do want me to keep testing to see if cops are going to come running to your rescue or are you done trying to be cute?”

Lance glared as he sat up. He wasn’t usually one to just take a beating but he knew that any attempt to fight back would most likely lead to Daniela’s associates joining in.

“What...do...you...want?”

“I told you, I want to know what happened to my brother,” Daniela said. “I’m just hoping to get some closure on the matter.”

“I think we have differing views on what closure is,” Lance replied dryly.

“Possibly,” Daniela said. “We probably also have differing views on how to respond to not getting what we want.”

“Look, I have no idea what your brother was doing here and I have no idea who shot him. If I did, I would have told the police when they arrested me.”

“It’s funny you should mention your statement to the police, because I’ve had a look at your statement and something doesn’t quite add up.” Daniela turned to one of her associates. “Carlos, what was Mr Mclain’s official statement.”

Carlos pulled out his phone and brought up a file.

“He claims had been in the alley throwing out trash. Three men entered the alley. They gave no legitimate reason for being there so Lance told them it was private property and told them to leave. The men pulled out guns and told Lance to get out of the way. Moments later the three men were gunned down by an assailant wearing a bike helmet. Lance had no idea who the first three men had been and he didn’t get a good look at the shooter.”

“Tell me, what’s odd about that statement?” Daniela asked.

“That you somehow got hold of my police statement?”

Daniela proceeded to backhand Lance across the face. 

“Final warning, stop trying to be cute or else I may start getting annoyed.”

“Fine, what’s odd about that statement?” Lance asked.

“What’s odd is that your statement implies that you were the only person in the alley when my brother arrived. Tell me, does the name ‘Katherine Holt’ mean anything to you?”

“Should it?”

Daniela looked critically into Lance’s eyes, finally, she took out her phone and brought up a picture which she showed to him. It was Pidge in a business suit.

“There’s the look of recognition I was waiting for,” Daniela commented.

“Yes I recognise her, she was at a table I served the same night this all happened,” Lance answered quickly. “Wait staff are given table numbers, not full introductions.” 

“Well David says there’s a bit more to it than that,” Daniela said. “You do remember David, don’t you? He was a manager here.”

Lance remembered a manager called David though Daniela’s use of past tense did not bode well. Rather than speaking, Lance merely nodded. 

“Well according to David, he saw her head out a staff door into the alley, shots were fired and then she comes rushing back into the restaurant. Then when the police turn up and take you into custody, she magically disappears from your recollection and a lawyer should not be able to afford turns up and bails you out. Are we starting to connect the dots?"

“I don’t want you to keep hitting me but I’m not sure what point you are trying to make,” Lance answered truthfully.

Daniela took out a gun and pointed it at Lance’s right hand.

“Alright, I’ll spell it out for you and then you’re gonna give me an answer. If I don’t like that answer, you become left-handed. Sound fair?”

Lance figured now was not the time to tell her he was already left-handed. “Sounds fair.”

“You are out in the alley, she comes out in the alley, my brother enters the alley. He gets shot and when the police turn up, she is nowhere to be seen. You get taken in for questioning, you remain silent until a lawyer you rightfully can’t afford turns up. Then for some reason, the statement you give doesn’t mention Holt at all. This is your last chance to tell me what you know about my brother’s death before I start getting angry.”

It dawned on Lance that Daniela thought he was somehow trying to cover up something about her brother’s murder. He almost wanted to laugh at how ludicrous this all was but the very real presence of Daniela’s gun made this significantly humorous.

“Alright,” Lance said. “If I promise to tell you the truth do you promise to wait until I finished talking before you decide whether or not to shoot me?”

“Alright,” Daniela said as she pointed the gun away from Lance’s hand for good measure. “I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

Lance took in a deep breath and then began to spoke.

“So as I said, I was serving her table, at least at first. Something I said rubbed one of her dinner guests the wrong so they got me kicked off their table meaning I get stuck with rubbish duty. I’m busy throwing out some trash when she comes out to apologise. I don’t know why she felt the need to apologise but that’s what she claims she was there for. Then your brother and his friends show up. One of them pulls a gun on me, telling me to step aside. I try to talk him down but he threatens to shoot me. Next thing I know all three of them are gunned down and I see a figure running away from the alley. I turn round and see that she is gone and before I have a chance to do anything else the police arrive.”

“I stayed silent because I was a suspect in a triple homicide and didn’t want to implicate myself. Then a lawyer arrives, they promise to help get me out so long as I do exactly what they tell me to do. I don’t question them because, as previously stated, I was a suspect in a triple homicide. I told them my side of the story, they then told me what to write down for my official statement. After I gave my statement, they told me if I ever changed my story to anything other than what I had written down I’d be in serious trouble.”

“I have no idea who the shooter was, I only got a brief look and they had a motor bike helmet on so I couldn’t see their face. I didn’t shoot your brother and neither did she. You can shoot me, beat me up some more, maybe even get your friends to join but that is going to change what I’ve told you. I wish I could give you a better answer about what happened to your brother but that is honestly all I know.”

Daniela gave Lance a hard look. Finally, she nodded as she put away her gun.

“I believe you. As much as I want to find my brother’s killer, you clearly have no idea. And to show there are no hard feelings, here’s a little something for your time.” 

Daniela took out a fifty-dollar note and dropped it onto Lance’s lap.

“We’ll be in touch if we have any follow up questions.”

Without a further word, Daniela and her associates left.

Once he was alone, Lance let out a groan, partially out of pain but mainly out frustration.

He **hated** this alley.

* * *

Pidge was eating with Shiro and Matt when her phone rang. When she saw it was Lance she decided to answer.

“Hi Lance...what?...hang on,” Pidge turned to Matt and Shiro. “We have a situation.”

Pidge, Matt and Shiro went to a secure room and put the phone on speaker.

“Matt and Shiro are here, tell us what happened.”

“Someone claiming to be the sister of one of the guys that got shot cornered me and demanded answers over who killed him.”

“Are you alright?” Pidge asked.

“I’m fine, nothing I can’t walk off but these guys weren’t kidding around,” Lance answered. “I would have called sooner but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being followed.”

Lance proceed to explain the whole encounter, including how Daniela had a picture of Pidge and had managed to get hold of Lance’s police statement.

“Are you somewhere safe?”

“I’m in the back room of the cafe I work at. I’m going to take the round way home.”

“Okay, stay safe.”

“Will do,” Lance answered. “Just one more thing, Daniela asked if I knew someone called Katherine Holt.”

Pidge’s blood went cold.

“Lance…”

“I’m not asking any questions,” Lance insisted. “I just thought you should know, in case that name means anything.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Sure thing, talk soon.” 

Lance hung up.

“Why the heck is this Daniela poking around what happened at Yanko’s?” Matt asked. “I thought we made peace with the Cartel.”

“We did,” Shiro answered. “Since going after Pidge is off the table, Daniela is obviously wanting to go after the person who actually pulled the trigger.”

“We’ve got to talk to her higher-ups,” Matt said. “There’s no way this is not going back on the Truce.”

“We do that now and they’ll assume that Lance is the one that told us, meaning he’ll get marked as one of our organisation. That’s not an option.”

“So what should we do?”

Pidge exhaled in frustration. “What we always do, research the threat and make a plan.”

* * *

Lance lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, trying to process his thoughts. He had stopped at a clinic on the way back to get looked at. Luckily, nothing was broken. It had been an awkward conversation when asked what had happened.

He took out his phone and pulled up a search engine. He typed in the words “Katherine Holt”.

His thumb hovered over the search button.

With a sigh he deleted the words from the search bar.

“She’ll tell me when she’s ready,” He muttered as he put his phone away. 

* * *

Pidge set up a secure connection. Soon her mom, Colleen, appeared on the screen.

“Hi Mom.”

“Hello dear,” Colleen replied. “How are things?”

What followed next was the usual pleasant small talk until Pidge decided it was time to for the main reason of the call.

“So Mom, I’ve met someone.”

That got Colleen’s attention.

“Really?”

Pidge proceeded to tell Colleen about Lance. Colleen stayed silent throughout Pidge’s description. 

“Does he know who you are?” She finally asked.

“Well no, but I haven’t been lying to him. He’s letting me tell him in my own time.”

“That’s really good of him but have you given thought as to how you’re going to tell him?”

“Honestly we’re not at that stage yet,” Pidge replied.

“And when do you think you will be?”

Pidge didn’t have an instant answer but her silence seemed to speak volumes. Pidge’s blood ran cold when she recognised the look on Colleen’s face. It’s the same look she had had when she explained to Matt that his family ties meant there was no way he would pass the background checks needed to be an astronaut.

“Katie, I want to be happy for you but I’m going to have to tell you a truth that you will not like to hear but that I need for you to understand,” Colleen said. “If you continue this relationship with Lance, you’re not becoming a part of his world. He is becoming a part of yours. Nothing you do will stop that. If you try to keep him tethered in a private bubble he’ll either fly off or come crashing headlong into your world eventually. If he’s not prepared for it he could get hurt.”

A look of guilt flashed across Pidge’s face. This didn’t go unnoticed by Colleen.

“He’s already gotten hurt, hasn't he?” 

“There were a couple of incidences,” Pidge admitted. “But I can keep him safe.”

“Katie, there’s only two places you can hope to keep him safe. Either by your side or completely out of your life.”

* * *

It was late at night as Pidge stood outside the door to Lance’s apartment. She had spent a night and whole day deliberating and finally decided what she had to do.

She knocked and waited. Eventually, Lance answered, having clearly been asleep since all he had on was a pair of pajama pants. Normally Pidge would have blushed at seeing Lance shirtless. Normally Pidge would have been blushing at seeing Lance shirtless but at the moment all that she could notice was bruises that were forming. 

“Pidge? Is everything alright?”

Pidge took in a deep breath as she steadied her nerves. 

“Lance, we can’t see each other anymore.”

“What?”

“It isn’t safe for you to be around me,” Pidge said. “You’re a good person that deserves better.”

“Wait, is this about those cartel members that are after you?”

“It’s not about them, it’s about why they were after me. I am the head of the biggest criminal organisation in this city.”

Lance stared at Pidge, waiting for her to say “gotcha” or something.

“You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack,” Pidge replied.

The gears in Lance’s head started to grind as he processed this new information.

“Okay, that’s not quite what I was expecting but how about you come in, I make us some coffee and we talk this out.”

“This isn’t something that can be talked about over a cup of coffee. You deserved the truth but that doesn’t change the fact that this won’t work. You are a decent and honest law-abiding citizen and I’m pretty much the opposite. Being with you made me feel normal and free but I’m neither. I’m willing to live with my choices but I’m not going to force you to live with them.”

“Pidge, let’s slow this down and just…”

“Goodbye Lance.”

Pidge walked off. Lance tried to give chase, repeatedly calling her name but Pidge started to run. Lance tried to keep up but there’s only so fast you can run barefoot and shirtless. He made it outside in time for Pidge to climb into a black car. 

Lance yelled “Pidge!” one last time he helplessly watched the car drive off.


End file.
